Letter reveals King Charles’ ‘insufferable vacancy’ after Diana loss of life

A poignant letter from King Charles discussing the ‘unbearable emptiness’ of grief four months after Princess Diana‘s death has come to light 27 years on.

Charles tells the recipient, known only as Peter, that his heart ‘bleeds’ for him following the passing of ‘dear Liz’ to illness.

He adds that he can imagine the ‘agony’ he was going through and ‘longed to wave a magic wand to transform the situation’.

Charles then laments the ‘bewilderment and confusion that accompanies the removal of someone so young from the world’.

He elaborates on his Christian faith and his beliefs on what happens when someone dies, quoting a Bible passage that states ‘now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face’.

A poignant letter from King Charles discussing the ‘unbearable emptiness’ of grief four months after Princess Diana’s death has come to light 27 years on 

He writes: ‘I have been thinking so much of you yesterday and today, knowing how deeply you will be affected by yesterday’s tragic news about dear Liz.

‘My heart bleeds for you as I can imagine so well the utter agony and despair you must have gone through during all these heart-rendering months that you have known about Liz’s illness.

‘All of us who know you-and are so fond you both-have felt the agony in a far lesser way of course, but have longed to wave a magic wand to transform the situation.

‘I often think that that is the worst part of all-being unable to help in any constructive way except to say constant prayers in the background & to try and surround you both with love & affection & concern.

‘I can so well imagine the unbearable emptiness you must feel at this time; the sense of bewilderment & confusion that accompanies the removal of someone still so young from this world.

‘Personally, I believe that there is another dimension beyond this physical one & that we will be amazed to discover it for ourselves when we are eventually-or at a moment-called upon to make that certain journey for ourselves.

‘As it says in the Bible-‘Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.’

‘I can’t tell you how pleased & happy I am to have known Liz. She was such a great life-enhancer.

Charles (left) and Princess Diana (right), pictured at home in Kensington Palace in 1985

Charles tells the recipient, known only as Peter, that his heart ‘bleeds’ for him following the passing of ‘dear Liz’ to illness 

He adds that he can imagine the ‘agony’ he was going through and ‘longed to wave a magic wand to transform the situation’ 

Charles then laments the ‘bewilderment and confusion that accompanies the removal of someone so young from the world’ 

He elaborates on his Christian faith and his beliefs on what happens when someone dies, quoting a Bible passage that states ‘now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face’ 

An RR spokesperson said: ‘This lengthy handwritten letter to ‘Peter’ expresses his sympathy upon the death of a loved one’

‘We shall all have such special memories of her but, above all, Peter, we mind about you & you are so very much in my thoughts and prayers at this most anguishing of times.

‘I thought you might just find a very small speck of comfort from this short piece of profoundly wise verse by William Blake and, together with this, I enclose a few ‘Highgrove things’ as a token of immense, affectionate sympathy.’

It is unclear who the Peter is that Charles is addressing, or the identity of ‘dear Liz’.

The three page handwritten letter on Highgrove House letterhead, dated December 8, 1997 and signed ‘Charles’, has emerged for sale for £1,500 ($2,000) at RR Auction, of Boston, US.

It comes with its original envelope which had Charles’s instructions for it to be delivered ‘by hand’.

An RR spokesperson said: ‘This lengthy handwritten letter to ‘Peter’ expresses his sympathy upon the death of a loved one.

‘Charles was likely particularly emotional at the time he wrote the letter, as Princess Diana had tragically passed away just a few months before in August 1997.’

Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris aged 36 on August 31, 1997.

The timed sale ends on August 14.