There have been hundreds of photos showing Princess Diana glowing and looking happy in what would have been her fairytale wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. Among these photos, however, was a rare shot of the People's Princess looking sad and uneasy.
The unearthed photo, posted on Instagram, showed Princess Diana as she sat next to her new husband, the heir to the throne, during their wedding day. She had her head slightly bent down and she looked serious and pensive. She also had her hands crossed and clasped together across her body as if to close off from the people around her.
This was unusual to see because it's supposed to be her wedding day. But, it would be revealed years later how Princess Diana and Prince Charles had a sad marriage that ended in divorce.
BBC journalist Rosa Monckton said that Princess Diana had fears people stopped loving her once they got to know her. Prince William and Prince Harry's mother, apparently, struggled with abandonment issues even as a young woman.
Her own mother walked out on their family when she was still a child and they had a troubled relationship. It was believed she and Princess Diana were not on speaking terms when the latter died.
Princess Diana's father also became missing from her life when she was barely in her teens because he married someone else. Years later, she would experience another abandonment when Prince Charles had an affair with his long-time love, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Princess Diana, sadly, believed that happiness eluded her because of these broken relationships. However, she received a lot of love from complete strangers and the common people that she would meet in the streets or see during her royal visits. It was for this reason that she became committed to helping people by becoming a patron of hundreds of charities.
The People's Princess also confessed in her explosive interview with Panorama's Martin Bashir in 1995 that she went through postpartum depression after a challenging first pregnancy. However, she wasn't able to talk about what she was going through because there was a stigma around this condition at that time.
Princess Diana confirmed she had treatment for her depression. She also knew that she needed to step back and give herself space so she could overcome her issues. The last two years of her life, following her divorce from Prince Charles and her stripping off the Royal Highness title, were perhaps her happiest.
