Diana, Princess of Wales, was considered “far more” adept at navigating the media landscape than Charles, then Prince of Wales, recently declassified documents reveal.
Documents from the National Archives of Ireland reveal that Diana's staff were actively involved in “upshadowing” St James's Palace during their highly publicized separation.
These files also shed light on Charles's two-day visit to Ireland in June 1995, following his separation from Diana in 1992.
His inner circle reportedly viewed the extensive coverage of this trip as a crucial component of a “long-term public relations strategy to rehabilitate the Prince in the eyes of the British public” following his high-profile divorce.
Charles's press team, led by press secretary Alan Percival and his successor Sandy Henney, informed Irish officials that they felt the visit to Ireland was “the best public outing the Prince has had in a long time”.
Mrs Henney was described in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs document as “fiercely loyal” to Charles and “attentive to every opportunity to promote his cause”.
A Department of Foreign Affairs note shows that officials were unsure whether she was joking when she suggested Diana might also want to visit Ireland.
“Henney (who would have been less aware of the political dimension than the more restrained Percival) told me that if she had anything to say, the Prince would be here again before the summer was over,” according to the document.
“He also commented that if practice to date was any guide, we could soon expect an approach from Princess Diana!”
Joe Hayes, a Department of Foreign Affairs official, added: “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 skillful and her staff spent a great deal of time finding ways and means to outshine St James's Palace.”
Charles's officials agreed with Irish diplomats that coverage of the visit to the United Kingdom was, while positive, “relatively light” compared to that in Ireland.
Officials on both sides of the Irish Sea noted that, in contrast to general coverage in Ireland, coverage of the visit in the United Kingdom had a “although positive, relatively light” tone.
This article is based on documents contained in the file called 2025/124/160 in the National Archives of Ireland.
