Raw revelations within royal family in 1995 State Papers

Updated / Saturday, 27 Dec 2025 07:38 In 1995 Prince Charles travelled to the Boyne Valley and the Newgrange megalithic tomb where he was welcomed by taoiseach John Bruton and his wife By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith Harry Manning Evelyn O'Rourke The now King of England's visit to Ireland in May 1995 was widely acknowledged to have been an important sign of the warming relations between Ireland and England during the peace process in Northern Ireland. But while officials on both sides of the Irish Sea were publicly pleased the visit had been a diplomatic success, behind closed doors they were sharing far less diplomatic jokes about still raw revelations within our nearest neighbour's royal family - including predictions Irish officials should soon expect a visit from Princess Diana as she liked to "upstage" the royal family. The then Prince Charles's two-day visit to Ireland came months before he and Diana, who had officially separated in 1992, were formally given permission to seek a divorce in December 1995. And with tensions and speculation rife across the water, it was perhaps understandable that some of that atmosphere would drift into Irish officials' private correspondence too. Files released as part of this year's annual State Papers tranche show that in one Department of Foreign Affairs document from May 1995, officials Colin Wrafter and Helena Nolan discuss recent British press coverage of the break-up, noting that there is "an ongoing debate, at least in some establishment circles in Britain, on the future of the monarchy" . The discussion continued across other communications with Prince Charles's press team including his press secretary Sandy Henney, who believed the visit was "the best public outing the Prince has had in a very long time", before the subject of ongoing tensions between Charles and Diana was broached. "Henney (who would have been less aware of the political dimension than the more restrained Percival) told me that if she had any say in it the Prince would be here again before the summer was out. "She also remarked that if practice to date was any guide we could shortly expect an approach from Princess Diana!", a Department of Foreign Affairs document written by Irish official Joe Hayes read. The note continued: "I took this as a joke until she repeated it and assured me that in the media battle between the two, the Princess was by far the more predatory and skilled and her staff devoted a great deal of time to finding ways and means of upstaging St James' Palace." The correspondence highlighted the difficult atmosphere between Charles and Diana's representative teams at the time, and is included in State Papers which also show how while Prince Charles's visit gained attention in Ireland, it led to a "paucity of interest in the British media". Part of this, the prince's press team explained to Irish officials, was due to "a technical problem at the BBC on the evening of the prince's arrival", although it was also acknowledged that it...

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