\n
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nDiana, Princess of Wales, was considered “far more” adept at navigating the media landscape than Charles, then Prince of Wales, newly-declassified documents have revealed.<\/p>\n
The documents from the National Archives of Ireland reveal that Diana\u2019s staff were actively engaged in “upstaging” St James’ Palace during their highly publicised separation.<\/p>\n
These files also shed light on Charles’s two-day visit to Ireland in June 1995, following his 1992 split from Diana. <\/p>\n
His inner circle reportedly viewed the extensive coverage of this trip as a crucial component of a “long-term public relations strategy to rehabilitate the Prince in the eyes of the British public” in the wake of their high-profile divorce.<\/p>\n
Charles\u2019s press team, led by press secretary Alan Percival and his successor Sandy Henney, had reported to Irish officials that they felt the visit to Ireland was \u201cthe best public outing the Prince has had in a very long time\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Charles, then the Prince of Wales, conducted a two-day visit to Ireland while Prince of Wales in June 1995 (Martin Keene\/PA Wire)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nMs Henney was described in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs\u2019 document as \u201cfiercely loyal\u201d to Charles and \u201calive to every opportunity to advance his cause\u201d.<\/p>\n
A Department of Foreign Affairs note shows officials were unsure if she was joking when she suggested that Diana may also want to visit Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cHenney (who would have been less aware of the political dimension than the more restrained Percival) told me that if she had any say in it the Prince would be here again before the summer was out,\u201d according to the document.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe also remarked that if practice to date was any guide we could shortly expect an approach from Princess Diana!\u201d<\/p>\n
Department of Foreign Affairs official Joe Hayes added: \u201cI took this as a joke until she repeated it and assured me that in the media battle between the two, the Princess was by far the more predatory and skilled and her staff devoted a great deal of time to finding ways and means of upstaging St James\u2019 Palace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charles\u2019 officials agreed with the Irish diplomats that coverage of the visit in the UK was, while positive, \u201crelatively light\u201d compared with that in Ireland.<\/p>\n
It was noted by officials on both sides of the Irish Sea that, in contrast with the blanket coverage in Ireland, the coverage of the visit in the UK was \u201cthough positive, relatively light\u201d in tone.<\/p>\n
This article is based on documents contained in the file labelled 2025\/124\/160 in the National Archives of Ireland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Diana, Princess of Wales, was considered “far more” adept at navigating the media landscape than Charles, then Prince of Wales, newly-declassified documents have revealed. The documents from the National Archives of Ireland reveal that Diana\u2019s staff were actively engaged in “upstaging” St James’ Palace during their highly publicised separation. These files also shed light on Charles’s two-day visit to Ireland in June 1995, following his 1992 split from Diana. His inner circle reportedly viewed the extensive coverage of this trip as a crucial component of a “long-term public relations strategy to rehabilitate the Prince in the eyes of the British public” in the wake of their high-profile divorce. Charles\u2019s press team, led by press secretary Alan Percival and his successor Sandy Henney, had reported to Irish officials that they felt the visit to Ireland was \u201cthe best public outing the Prince has had in a very long time\u201d. Charles, then the Prince of Wales, conducted a two-…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}