Bulimia: the Adult Life of Princess Diana

Princess Di and Culture Shock Within the British Royal Family

Oct 2, 2008 Jeannie Delahunt

Princess Diana's life embodied all of the general catalytic dynamics for the emergence of an eating disorder. More sorrows awaited her as Princess of Wales.

Princess Diana took a risk when she decided to cooperate with author Andrew Morton regarding her life within the Royal Family. Doing so she broke the "No-Talk" rule which haunted her early years in a family marred by divorce and emotional upheavals as well as those years as Princess of Wales, wife of Prince Charles, (future Queen of England).

Whenever there is dysfunction, the lion(s) in the closet must be revealed and dealt with before healing can take place. Princess Diana dared to do just that.

Princess Diana's Lions

Initially, Princess Diana was happy and thrilled about her engagement to Prince Charles. However, the night before she moved into the residence of the Royal Family, her armed Scotland Yard bodyguard told her freedom as she knew it was coming to an end.

Numerous, anxious, mournful years transpired in Princess Di's life before the writing of the book, Diana Her True Story by Andrew Morton (original edition,1992). The book was not well received upon publication. It revealed the relationship between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles before Diana and Prince Charles were wed, as well as the ongoing relationship between them after the royal marriage.

Princess Di was painfully aware of the relationship, however, when she confronted Prince Charles about it; he brushed her suspicions away declaring only a platonic connection. Yet, Camilla's prints were ever present. There were gifts and private conversations exchanged between the two. Princess Di's bulimia accelerated into overdrive as her husband persisted in his attention to Ms. Parker-Bowles and vice versa.

Additionally, though Princess Diana held the utmost respect for the Royal Family and frequently told them she would not hurt them, she felt estranged by them. There were manifold levels of secrets and personalities within the Buckingham Palace/royal circle that she did not know how to engage or how not to engage with.

There were numerous public responsibilities that Princess Di was only too willing to participate in as part of her royal obligations--as well as to please her husband, the Crown, and the public's expectations of her. However, the demands of perfection in the sight of the Royal Family and the public, coping with her husband and Camilla's relationship, the myriad of secret intricacies within the royal household, becoming pregnant, and like a red fox, mercilessly hunted by paparazzi hounds, were stressors more intense than Princess Diana could handle.

The Roaring Head of Princess Di's Bulimia

According to Morton's book, the Queen blamed Princess Diana's bulimia for the breakup of her marriage to Prince Charles. The Princess was seen as unbalanced mentally, therefore, creating a nasty scenario for Prince Charles to cope with.

Princess Di's bulimia was a symptom of all the dysfunction swirling around her not the cause of it. Princess Di found comfort in eating. However, the shame and guilt which occurred after the binges, led her to purge.

There were times when Princess Di tried to explain to her husband that she needed rest and a little time to absorb all the realities of her new life. He ignored or verbally chastised her.

The bulimia was Princess Di's cry for help, along with her attempts at self-harm. Prince Charles, her husband, for what ever reason, failed to hear.

Sources

Andrew Morton, Diana Her True Story, In Her Own Words (Commemorative Edition), Simon and Schuster, Rockefeller Center, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, 1997.

DigestionduJour.blogspot.com

The copyright of the article Bulimia: the Adult Life of Princess Diana in Eating Disorders is owned by Jeannie Delahunt. Permission to republish Bulimia: the Adult Life of Princess Diana in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Princess Diana