US TV personality recalls Princess Diana’s heartbreak over Charles divorce

Twelve months before her untimely death, Princess Diana shared her heartbreak over her divorce from Prince Charles during a chat with US TV personality Katie Couric.

"I covered the royals pretty extensively at the Today show, but I didn't actually get to meet Diana until I was invited to attend a lunch honouring her in Chicago in June of 1996," the journalist recalled in an essay published by InStyle on Friday, a day before the 22nd anniversary of the late royal's death.

"She was on a whirlwind trip to the US I was asked to give some remarks, along with the journalist Anna Quindlen and Marlo Thomas," Couric wrote. "I was nervous to meet Princess Diana and was seated two seats away from her at lunch. We chatted and she told me she liked my pink lipstick. Funny."

The TV anchor wrote that she turned to Diana and asked, "You must be exhausted traveling and meeting so many people and having to shake hands with all these strangers. Are you excited to go home?"

According to Couric, the princess replied, "I would be, but I'm going home to an empty house."

"I will never forget her response," the presenter wrote. "This was as she was finalising her divorce from Prince Charles, and she seemed a bit melancholy and lonely. My heart broke a little for her."

In an attempt to cheer up Diana, Couric suggested the Princess of Wales "invite some friends over and have a slumber party." Her idea was met with a bemused look.

"Perhaps that's why the world fell in love with Diana — she let people see her insecurity and vulnerability. She seemed to wear both on her sleeve," the TV host wrote. "Yes, she was a princess, but somehow, she was like all of us."

Diana and Charles tied the knot at St Paul's Cathedral in London in July 1981 before separating in 1992 and finalising their divorce in August 1996, just one month after Diana chatte to Couric.