At half past four a.m. on August 31, 1997, Charles received a call from the Queen's secretary.
It is said that people have three fears when they reach middle age, and a late-night call is one of them, and it is really bad news. The secretary told Charles that Diana had been in a car accident at the Pont de Alma in Paris and had not been rescued.
Anderson, the author of "The Life of King Charles III", interviewed the staff around Charles, who recalled that Charles was pale and trembling when he came to the scene, and let out an extremely painful cry. Some staff members rushed into the room and found Charles lying in a muddy mess on the armchair, crying terribly.
Another royal writer, Juno, described in his book "Steadfast" that Charles also exclaimed: "They're all going to blame me, aren't they?"
This was the first question Charles asked after learning of his ex-wife's death.
Then he said, "The world is going to go completely crazy and we're going to see a reaction like never before." It could destroy everything, it could destroy the monarchy. ”
He was indeed grief-stricken, and at the same time realized that it was terrible.
In the hours that followed, he kept calling Camila and friends.
Camila was equally scared.
After daybreak, Charles woke William up, and they went to Harry's room together.
William was 15 years old and Harry was 13 years old at the time, and the queen avoided their psychological shock and ordered the removal of all newspapers from the palace.
But Charles still told the bad news to his two sons.
In his memoir "Spare Tire", Harry described the scene:
Charles didn't hug him, just sat on the edge of the bed, put his hand on his knee and comforted: " Everything will be fine. ”
Harry felt that everything was so unreal.
And William felt like an earthquake, dizzy.
Although Diana is already an ex-wife, she is still a mother of two children, and Charles decides to take responsibility for handling the aftermath.
He offered to take Diana's coffin back to China by special plane, but the queen thought that Diana was already a civilian and did not meet the royal regulations, and she reluctantly agreed after Charles's repeated insistence.
At 5 p.m. that day, Charles and Diana's two sisters, as well as French President Jacques Chirac, arrived at the hospital. Charles's steps staggered, as if he was about to fall after a punch.
Charles was shocked to see Diana lying there, the fan blowing her hair as if she were still alive.
Of course, Diana had stopped breathing. Charles and Diana's sisters bowed their heads and wept and prayed on the sidelines.
Subsequently, he asked to be alone with Diana.
When he walked out of the room, he looked extremely sad.
At that time, the hospital proposed that they could leave by helicopter. But Charles refused, saying that Diana had come by car and should have driven away.
In the end, Diana's coffin was covered with the royal flag and transported back to England by special plane.
After the incident, Charles fell into depression and it took a while for him to gradually come out.
Charles should have mixed feelings about Diana's death: sadness over the death of his ex-wife, guilt for his own righteousness, fear of fragility of life, fear of royal responsibility, and perhaps Diana's joy that she could no longer expose royal scandals.
In any case, at this critical moment, Charles changed his image of cowardice and incompetence and took on the responsibilities of husband and father.