The real third person in Charles and Diana’s marriage was not Camilla Parker Bowles, as the world long assumed. According to royal historian Hugo Vickers, the catalyst that led Prince Charles to declare the marriage “irretrievably broken down” was Princess Diana’s close relationship — and alleged affair — with her bodyguard, Barry Mannakee.

Vickers, drawing on his deep knowledge of the royal family in his biography of Queen Elizabeth II, challenges the popular narrative of the “three people in this marriage” line from Diana’s 1995 Panorama interview. He argues that when Diana spoke those words to Martin Bashir, the initial “third person” she had in mind was Mannakee, not Camilla.

Charles and Camilla: The Enduring Love Story

Charles and Camilla’s connection dated back to 1972. Their relationship was interrupted by his naval service but resumed before his marriage to Diana. Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles, yet the bond with Charles persisted as a deep, compatible partnership that many insiders viewed as the true love match.

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Charles and Camilla in the 1970s (left) and later years (right). Their long-standing relationship formed the emotional backdrop to Charles’s royal duties.

Diana’s Fairy Tale That Wasn’t

Lady Diana Spencer seemed the perfect royal bride on paper: young, aristocratic, and seemingly innocent. Yet the reality was far more complicated. As a schoolgirl, Diana reportedly dreamed of marrying her childhood playmate, Prince Andrew, rather than the heir to the throne. She barely knew Charles and continued calling him “Sir” until shortly before their engagement.

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A young Diana with Prince Andrew. She once saw him as her ideal match, not his older brother.

Both Charles and Diana harboured serious doubts in the lead-up to the wedding. Diana suffered from bulimia brought on by nerves. Charles reportedly asked friends whether one could fall in love after marriage and confided his uncertainties. A note from Diana declaring her love reportedly left him in tears, saying he was not sure he could handle the situation. Yet duty prevailed.

The couple married on 29 July 1981 at St Paul’s Cathedral in a ceremony watched by hundreds of millions worldwide. It was presented as a fairy tale, though cracks were already forming.

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The 1981 royal wedding. Diana’s iconic dress and the grand ceremony at St Paul’s masked underlying tensions.

Their honeymoon at Balmoral offered little respite.

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Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their honeymoon on August 19,… News Photo – Getty Images

Charles and Diana on honeymoon in Balmoral, August 1981. Public images showed a couple, but private doubts lingered.

The Bodyguard: Barry Mannakee

The turning point came in the mid-1980s. After Diana was accidentally injured by a fishing fly cast by Charles in 1985, her protective officer — Barry Mannakee, a married father of two — offered sympathy and support that developed into a deeper emotional (and reportedly physical) relationship.

Protection officers noticed the closeness. Diana was confronted and initially denied any impropriety. Mannakee was transferred to non-royal duties to protect reputations and his family. Charles initially resisted the move but eventually agreed. The affair reportedly ended, but the damage to the marriage was done.

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Princess Diana with her bodyguard Barry Mannakee at polo matches and events. These images capture the closeness that raised eyebrows among royal protection staff.

Vickers writes that it was the Mannakee affair that prompted Charles to conclude the marriage had irretrievably broken down — a point he referenced in his 1994 interview with Jonathan Dimbleby. Only later did other relationships, such as Diana’s with James Hewitt (beginning around 1986), further erode the union.

The Tragic End of Mannakee

The story took a dark turn on 15 May 1987. Barry Mannakee, then 37, was killed in a motorcycle crash while riding pillion on a bike driven by PC Stephen Peet. The vehicle collided with a car in Woodford, east London. Diana learned of his death while on a flight and was deeply distressed. She later expressed suspicions of conspiracy, believing “they” had arranged it to protect her or the institution — a claim Vickers describes as unfair and unfounded.

The Marriage Unravels

The Waleses’ relationship continued to deteriorate amid mutual infidelities, Diana’s mental health struggles, post-natal depression, and public scandals. Andrew Morton’s 1992 book Diana: Her True Story delivered a major blow, followed by leaked tapes (Squidgygate and Camillagate). The Queen eventually intervened, leading to formal separation in December 1992 and divorce in 1996.

Vickers notes that senior royals, including Princess Margaret and others, found Diana’s behaviour increasingly difficult, describing her as fragile yet prone to tantrums. Prince Philip wrote letters urging understanding but also firmness. Some insiders viewed her as undermining the monarchy.

Diana’s later relationship with Dodi Fayed ended tragically in the 1997 Paris car crash.

Vickers’ Broader View

Hugo Vickers portrays the marriage not as a simple tale of Charles’s infidelity with Camilla, but as a complex failure involving incompatible personalities, immense pressure, youthful inexperience on Diana’s side, and duty over personal happiness on Charles’s. The “real third person” — Barry Mannakee — and the tragedy of his death added layers of pain and suspicion that haunted Diana.

The royal family ultimately saw the union as unsustainable, with the Queen and others prioritising stability. Vickers’ account, based on extensive research and access, offers a nuanced correction to decades of tabloid-driven narratives, emphasising that both Charles and Camilla’s enduring bond, and Diana’s own emotional needs, played central roles in the breakdown.

This perspective reframes one of the most famous royal marriages of the 20th century — not as a straightforward love triangle, but as a far more human and tragic story of mismatched expectations, institutional pressures, and personal vulnerabilities.

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-15689593/Charles-Diana-marriage-HUGO-VICKERS-reveals-truth.html