Diana’s Tapes: A Candid Look at the Princess’ Life

As the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's death approaches, new revelations about her life continue to emerge.

The latest discovery is a series of video recordings in which the princess talks candidly about her marriage to Prince Charles.

The tapes were recorded between 1992 and 1993 and are the subject of a new documentary, Diana, in her own words.

The recordings were found in 2001 during a police raid on the home of Diana's former butler, starting a legal battle over their ownership.

They caused a BBC documentary about Diana to be cancelled because it featured extracts from the tapes.

Now, the recordings will be broadcast, featuring footage of the princess discussing her marriage to Charles, both of their infidelities, and her status within the royal family.

In the tapes, Diana describes seeking help from Queen Elizabeth II when it became clear that her marriage was in trouble.

After going sobbing to the Queen for advice, she asked her, “What do I do?”

The only reply she got from the monarch was, “I don't know what you should do, Charles is hopeless.”

Diana also reflects on her brief courtship with Charles, revealing that they met only 13 times before they married.

She describes Charles as being like a puppy after they first kissed, but that the inconsistency of his courting abilities was troubling.

He'd ring me up every day for a week and then he wouldn't speak to me for three weeks, very odd, and I'd accepted though and I thought fine, he knows where I am if he wants me but no, it was all, it was odd.

The day she and Charles had announced their engagement, Diana was absolutely traumatized after a TV interview in which the couple were asked if they were in love, to which Charles' answer was, “Whatever in love means.”

The tapes were recorded over a period of time that encapsulated both the months before and after Diana and Charles' separation in December 1992.

This suggests why Diana felt able to speak so candidly about the nature of their relationship.

She said their s** life fizzled out when their second son Prince Harry was about eight years old and that Charles continued to see Camilla Parker Bowles as he had in the months leading up to his and Diana's wedding.

When Diana confronted her husband about it, she says that he replied, “Well, I refused to be the only Prince of Wales who never had a mistress.”

The tapes have caused fierce opposition to Channel 4's decision to use them in its documentary about Diana.

It has been pointed out that they have the potential to cause hurt to her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

However, the channel has argued that the footage is an important contribution to the historical record and that it is a crucial exercise in allowing Diana herself a voice.

The tapes were made by the Royal Speech coach Peter Setlin during vocal training sessions at her home in Kensington Palace.

The princess is also recorded as speaking about falling in love at 24 with someone who is most likely her bodyguard Barry Manachi, for whom she was quite happy to consider giving up her current life.

But when their illicit affair was discovered, he was fired and later killed in a motorcycle accident.

Diana and Charles were on an official visit to Cannes when he suddenly broke the news to her of Manachi's death, which left her devastated.

“I think he was bumped off, but there we are, we'll never know,” she says, adding, “I should never have played with fire and I did, I got very burned.”

The tapes offer a candid look at the life of one of the most famous women in the world, ensuring that Princess Diana remains a figure of controversy and speculation long after her death.