Princess Diana expressed her desire to ‘quit’ the royal family during her famous diplomatic mission to Egypt, an insider has revealed.

In Guarding Diana, re-released in paperback later this month and excerpted exclusively for Robert Jobson’s Royal Podcast, the Princess’ former personal protection officer tells how Diana vented her frustration with royal life as Prince Charles secretly holidayed with his then mistress, Camilla Parker-Bowles.

“Diana knew perfectly well the reason for her husband’s trip,” writes Ken Wharfe, “She knew that he would be meeting Camilla and that they would be enjoying private time together.”

According to the book, co-authored by the Evening Standard’s Royal Editor, Robert Jobson, Diana’s frustration came to a head after press photographers had snapped a now-famous picture of her in a bathing suit during a private swim taken to relieve the stress of “delivering her husband into his lover’s arms”.

Wharfe claims Diana, provoked by the photographers’ presence, told him “I want out of this once and for all”. He says she had been referring not to Egypt but to “being a member of the royal family and the circus that surrounded it”.

Unbeknown to her bodyguard at the time, Diana had already begun preparing “the longest divorce petition ever served in history” in the form of the incendiary book Diana: Her True Story - on which she secretly collaborated with author Andrew Morton.

It was perhaps this, more than the unwanted photographers, which weighed most heavily on Diana’s mind when she let slip her frustrated outburst, Wharfe writes.

“She was well aware that the mother of all rows was about to follow."

IMAGE: Diana's last picture with Prince Charles before they divorced, in 1992.
IMAGE: Diana with Nelson Mandela
IMAGE: Diana holding hands with Mother Theresa
IMAGE: Diana with Hillary Clinton

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/europe/europe-life-arts/an-insider-reveals-the-moment-diana-decided-to-divorce-prince-charles/ar-BBPBuq8?li=BBJDXDP&ocid=wispr#image=AAqWCAS|7

IMAGE: Diana with Prince Charles during their honeymoon at Balmoral, Scotland on August 19, 1981.

IMAGE SOURCES: Princess Diana Archives/GETTY IMAGES