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Royals Exclusive: Princess Diana's Wedding Photographer on What She Would've Had to Say About Harry's Resignation

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There’s no denying that Princess Diana struggled with aspects of royal life—something that her son, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle, can certainly relate to. So, when we got the opportunity to chat with one of Diana's go-to royal photographers, we just had to ask his thoughts on the subject. 

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s wedding anniversary, BritBox, the streaming service from BBC Studios and ITV, recently released its new film, The Wedding of the Century. The documentary features beautifully restored archival footage from the nuptials, which took place at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981, as well as never-before-heard anecdotes from the day and interviews with key insiders involved in planning the record-breaking event.

As part of the anniversary, PureWow recently got the opportunity to speak with royal photographer Kent Gavin, who was one of the main photographers shooting the nuptials. In addition to talking about the wedding, he also opened up about what he believed Diana would think of Prince Harry’s decision to step down as a senior member of the royal family. According to Gavin, she would be more than understanding (especially when it comes to his wife, Meghan Markle). 

“[Diana] would understand a lot of what Meghan went through,” the photographer revealed. “There were several aspects of this decision. [Diana] suffered—not to the same degree that Meghan did—but was breaking into an institution that was going on for hundreds and hundreds of years. I think she would sympathize with what Meghan was going through—just not to the extent that we found out in the Oprah interview with the bullying and the taking away of [Markle’s] passport. I did say at the time of their wedding I didn't think their marriage would last three years. Thankfully, they’ve chosen a way of getting out of that. And I think Diana would have understood that.”

Gavin also reminisced about the day Charles and Diana said, “I do.”

“There are so many things I wish I had known then that I know now. What I remember on the day was the sadness on Diana's face when I first saw her walking down the aisle with her veil on and the difference from when she walked back with Charles and how happy and smiling she was. [The wedding] brought a great deal of happiness to everybody. Because at that time, England or the U.K. was in a terrible state—rats in the streets, recession—and the wedding brought a lot of happiness to hundreds and hundreds of people.”

We couldn’t agree more. 

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