In a book published by Andrew Morton in 1992, Princess Diana had said that spending Christmas with members of the royal family was "very worrying" and that relations with them were "very strained."
Spencer is a high-profile film directed by Pablo Larrion and starring Kristen Stewart, a documentary film about a three-day vacation at Sandringham Manor during Christmas 1991 when the distressed Princess Diana decides to end her broken marriage with Crown Prince Charles.
In real life, there were clear signs of nervousness, and Princess Diana, along with other members of the royal family, joined her sons Prince William and Prince Harry for a traditional Christmas morning church event. Princess Diana and Crown Prince Charles walked separately on the road, greeting the people who came to bless them. Even at the group photo, Princess Diana was smiling – several family members were passing by Crown Prince Charles.
Princess Diana also told him in Andrew Morton's 1992 book Diana: Her True Story that Christmas with members of the royal family was "very worrying" and full of "tension." By the early 1990s, Princess Diana had been treated for bulimia, but the cycles of binge eating and bowel movements still recurred. Princess Diana told Morton: "Especially at Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle or the Queen's Manor in Sandringham, I was sick all the time. ”
In 1992, Princess Diana and Prince Charles separated after 11 years of lavish weddings. After Crown Prince Charles publicly admitted his infidelity, Princess Diana gave an interview to the BBC – in which she said: "There are three people in our marriage, so it's a bit crowded" – and at the urging of Queen Elizabeth, they finally formally announced their divorce in 1996.
Did Christmas 30 years ago mean the end of Diana's marriage to Charles? What's the secret? Spencer's story is imaginative (it even includes a small role in Anne Boleyn, the beheaded wife of King Henry VIII), but it captures the essence of that festive gathering: smiling at the public and the pain behind closed doors.
Princess Diana's fateful Christmas at queen's manor: a very painful three-day holiday. Stuart had previously said of the role: "Spencer is immersed in Princess Diana's emotional imagination at a turning point in her life, a physical assertion of the sum of her parts, which begins with her name, Spencer. As Princess Diana struggles to hold on to what the name Spencer means to her, her return is a painful endeavor. ”