Meghan and Princess Diana faced ‘completely different’ challenges when joining the Royal Family

Dorothy Reddin Tue, July 28, 2026 at 9:26 AM UTC

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Princess Diana | Source: GETTY

The success of women marrying into the Royal Family is determined by the length of their courtship and their age rather than possessing a traditional nuclear family background, according to veteran broadcaster Simon Vigar.

Speaking exclusively to GB News ahead of the publication of his new book, The Four Wives of Windsor: The Inside Story of the Power Behind the Crown, the Channel 5 royal correspondent explored the contrasting experiences of Queen Camilla, the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Sussex, and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Mr Vigar, who has reported on the monarchy for nearly three decades, addressed a passage in his upcoming book which notes: “Camilla had a far happier childhood than Diana; Rosalind was a hands-on mother and unusually for their class managed without nannies.”

Despite the stability of Queen Camilla and Catherine’s upbringings compared to the fractured childhoods of Diana and Meghan, Mr Vigar argued that a nuclear family is not the deciding factor for royal survival.

He pointed to Diana’s aristocratic Spencer background, which ultimately could not protect her due to her youth and the underlying dynamics of her relationship with King Charles.

“Diana was, as you know, properly prepared for marrying into the family, because she literally knew them, and she was the only aristocrat of the four," Mr Vigar exclusively told GB News.

"Diana couldn't cope with what she walked into, and she was so young as well, but he obviously still was in love with Camilla, and Charles and Diana barely knew each other when they got married."

When Charles and Diana formally announced their engagement in February 1981, the Prince of Wales famously responded to a reporter's question about whether they were in love by saying: "Whatever love is". Diana was just 19 years old at the time.

"So I think that's far more important in her case," Mr Vigar continued. "Diana was a girl; she was 19, and he was 12 or 13 years older, so with Diana, I think that was far more important than the Spencer family background.”

He contrasted this with the Duchess of Sussex, who began dating Prince Harry in 2016 and married him in 2018.

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During her 2021 televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, the duchess admitted that she was completely unprepared for the reality of the institution, stating: "I didn't fully understand what the job was".

Mr Vigar said: “With Meghan, she was, for completely understandable reasons, rushed in; Harry wanted to protect her, and the only way he could do that - obviously they both believed that this was the best way of protecting her - was to rush her in.

Duchess of Sussex | Source: GETTY

"By her own admission, Meghan really didn't know what she was getting into when she did, so it's completely different."

This expedited timeline was the complete opposite of the approach taken by the Prince and Princess of Wales, who dated for several years following their initial meeting at the University of St Andrews before their 2010 engagement.

According to Mr Vigar, the late Queen Elizabeth II recognised the value of this prolonged integration and the stability of the Middleton family.

“One of my sources, who used to work with the Queen, said that the Queen, with laser-like focus as you would expect, realised that the Middleton family was the absolute key to it, and the rock-solid upbringing that Catherine was from," he revealed.

Prince William and Princess Kate | Source: PA

"And allied to that, they gave her seven years; they gave her all the time in the world to back out if she wanted to, but she went in eyes wide open."

Queen Camilla also benefited from an extended period of adjustment before marrying into the institution in 2005.

"Camilla is different again, because she had literally decades to observe what was going on," Mr Vigar concluded.

"And her reputation was, as Charles's reputation was, terrible 30 years ago, but there's been a very slow process there."

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