40 years of the wedding of Carlos and Diana: from the fairy tale to a broken marriage in 21 photos

1On February 24, 1981, Charles of England, 32, announced his betrothal to Diana Spencer, 19 (he would turn 20 in July).

The couple had barely met a couple of times before.

For the photographs, Carlos stood a few steps higher to appear taller than his fiancée.

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2Since before getting married, Diana began to accompany Carlos to some official but not too institutional events.

Here (with Princess Margaret, sister of Elizabeth II), the couple attend the premiere of the James Bond film 'For Your Eyes Only', starring Roger Moore, at London's Odeon cinemas on June 25, 1981. CORDON PRESS

3Just three days before their wedding, the bride and groom would take these portraits in which they were natural and affectionate, as well as very close-knit, dressed in matching white shirts.

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4The grand wedding took place on July 29, 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral in central London.

It was attended by 2,500 guests and watched by 750 million people on television.

Until that day, the bride and groom had seen each other 13 times, according to Diana.

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5The couple posed for their portraits in a classic print in which Carlos appears much taller than his wife, although Diana was the same height as him, 1.78 meters.

6The day after their wedding, the brand-new princes of Wales faced their first official duties.

Despite the glory of the previous day, they had to pose for a portrait in full dress.

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7Part of the honeymoon took place at Balmoral, Elizabeth II's Scottish estate.

There the couple posed for some sugary photos strolling along the River Dee.

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8After the marriage, an exact year passed for the couple's first child, Guillermo Arturo Felipe Luis, to be born. His christening took place on August 4, 1982 at Buckingham Palace. Here, the little boy in his mother's arms between the Queen Mother of England and Queen Elizabeth II, and escorted by Philip of Edinburgh and Prince Charles. CORDON PRESS

9 Quickly the official engagements arrived, in which Diana shone.

The public and the cameras were always directed to her, more than to her husband, supposed to be the protagonist because he was the heir to the throne.

A good example of this was the Australian tour that the couple (together with their son Guillermo, in all a burst of modernity) carried out in the spring of 1983. Here, the crowds receive the princes of Wales upon their arrival at the Sydney Opera House, on March 28, 1983. The pressure overwhelmed the princess so much that, shortly after this moment, she began to cry in public without being able to remedy it. CORDON PRESS

10Diana shone at events for her naturalness, her desire to break strict British protocol and her expressiveness.

In the picture, she dances with her husband at a gala in Sydney on March 28, 1983. CORDON PRESS

11Her second son, Enrique Carlos Alberto David, came to the world in September 1984. According to Diana on some subsequent occasion, she did not have sexual relations with her husband since she found out she was pregnant.

He also explained that Enrique's arrival in the world was a disappointment for Prince Charles, who wanted to have a daughter.

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This is the first Christmas greeting that the princes of Wales sent with their two children, as a family of four in full.

It was in December 1984. CORDON PRESS

13Diana focused on her children, from their birth.

This image, from Trooping the Color of 1985, is one of the few in which Prince Charles is seen doing some work related to children: he is holding Henry, barely nine months old.

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14Diana was in charge of her children's education, but also of their leisure time.

She was the one who accompanied them on Enrique's first day of class at the Wetherby School in Notting Hill, London, in 1989. The boy was then five years old and his older brother was seven.

Prince Charles did not go with them.

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15The family continued to appear as such for the next several years, but as both later recounted, their marriage was broken.

In the picture, the four of them riding their bikes in Tresco, in the Isles of Scilly, in the south of England, in the late 1980s.

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16The last Christmas greetings from the Princes of Wales as a family of four were sent in December 1991. CORDON PRESS

17In the early 1990s the estrangement between the princes of Wales was increasingly evident.

Their interests were increasingly different.

In the image, the couple on a visit to Toronto, Canada, in October 1991. On that same day, Diana visited an AIDS center and shook hands with one of them, in an image that went around the world .

Anwar Hussein GETTY IMAGES

18One of the most striking images and that most evidenced the distance between the marriage was this of Diana posing alone, head down and with a sad face in the Taj Mahal, on a visit to India in February 1992. A whole gestural display on the part of the princess before the media, something she was adept at.

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19In 1992, the distance between the princes became clear on one of their trips to Spain, this time officially to visit the Seville Expo in May.

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20In 1992, the princes announced their separation.

Buckingham Palace made it public on December 8, and then it was reported that Diana would remain in Kensington Palace and Charles would move to Clarence House, which 30 years later remains his residence in London.

Pictured are the Princes of Wales on their last official tour together, at a state banquet in their honor in Seoul, South Korea, in November 1992. Anwar Hussein GETTY IMAGES

21Despite being separated, the couple continued to attend some commitment together, especially in the family sphere. In the image, in the last public appearance of the four, in September 1995, when Carlos and Diana, along with Enrique, accompanied Guillermo to his first day at Eton boarding school. The couple's divorce would be announced 10 months later. Diana passed away in Paris on August 31, 1997. GETTY IMAGES / Hulton Archive