Diana chose party to confront Prince adulteress
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-03-12 10:54

Princess Diana chose the birthday party of Camilla Parker Bowles' sister to confront the woman having an affair with her husband, Prince Charles, according to excerpts of audiotapes made by Diana that were aired Thursday by NBC.

At the party, which took place in the winter of 1989, Diana found her husband and another guest alone with Camilla.

"I said to the two men, `OK, boys, I'm just going to have a quick word with Camilla ... and they shot upstairs like chickens with no heads."

Then Diana, admitting to feeling "terrified of her," recalls telling Camilla, "I know what's going on between you and Charles, and I just want you to know that."

Camilla's response: "You've got everything you ever wanted. You've got all the men in the world (to) fall in love with you and you've got two beautiful children, what more do you want?"

"I want my husband," Diana replied.

"And I said to Camilla, `I'm sorry I'm in the way, and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know what's going on. Don't treat me like an idiot.'"

NBC has broadcast numerous excerpts from these tapes in which Diana describes such things as her marital frustration, unhappiness as a royal, eating disorders and suicide attempts. The tapes were the basis for Andrew Morton's book, "Diana: Her True Story."

Excerpts were aired Thursday morning on the "Today" show. The second part of a prime-time NBC News special, "Princess Diana: The Secret Tapes," was to air Thursday night.

With its publication in 1992, the Morton book angered Diana's family, friends and the royal family. The couple formally separated that year, and were divorced in 1996, a year before Diana's death.

In 1994, Prince Charles acknowledged in a TV documentary that he had strayed from his marriage vows, but insisted the infidelity happened only after the marriage was "irretrievably broken down, us both having tried."

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