royal tour 1983 australia

Relive Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 1983 Royal Tour of Australia and New Zealand, in Photos

The couple's iconic trip features in season four of The Crown .

The Prince and Princess of Wales touched down in the relatively remote Alice Springs. According to a People article from the time, the locale was chosen "precisely because it had never received royalty on such a grand scale."

Diana famously refused to leave her young son behind, as had been the royal custom for overseas tours up to that point.

For the most part, Prince William stayed with his nanny at Woomargama Station, a working sheep ranch where Ronald Reagan had once stayed. Charles and Diana visited with him frequently throughout their tour.

No trip to Australia is complete without a kangaroo, and the royal couple were able to spot one early on in their trip.

As is still the case, a large part of royal tours involves meeting with fans and glad-handing the public.

The royal couple hiked Ayers Rock during their stay in Australia's Northern Territory. ( The Crown cast was spotted recreating this same scene on location in Spain in 2019 .)

The Prince and Princess met with Australian Prime Minister. Bob Hawke and his wife, Hazel, in front of Canberra's Government House.

Diana chose a pink dress by Bellville Sassoon, one of her go-to labels, and a hat by John Boyd for a walkabout in front of the Sydney Opera House.

Charles places his hand on Diana's back as the approach the crowd of local fans.

The Princess wore a bright blue belted gown by Bruce Oldfield to a gala at Sydney's Wentworth Hotel.

The couple dressed to the nines and busted out their royal orders for a state reception in Hobart, Tasmania.

Diana famously loved to dance.

Charles and Diana show a little PDA during an engagement.

The duo wave from a balcony in Adelaide, Australia. Diana is wearing an Arabella Pollen suit and John Boyd hat, which pair well with her stylish bouquet.

The Princess of Wales opted for a red and white color palette during an appearance in Renmark, Australia.

Charles and Diana wave to the crowd during a walkabout in Perth. The Princess's hot pink Donald Campbell dress pairs well with a matching John Boyd hat.

Some of the younger locals get a chance to speak with the royals.

A young girl hands Diana a flower as she and Charles ride through Bunbury's Hands Oval sports ground.

Diana went full '80s in a ruffled Catherine Walker gown and pearls to attend a concert in Melbourne.

The Prince and Princess stage a photo opp in front of a highly photographable model pineapple at the Ginger Factory in Yandina, Australia.

Chloe is a News Writer for Townandcountrymag.com , where she covers royal news, from the latest additions to Meghan Markle’s staff to Queen Elizabeth’s monochrome fashions ; she also writes about culture, often dissecting TV shows like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Killing Eve .

@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1jdielu:before{margin:0.625rem 0.625rem 0;width:3.5rem;-webkit-filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);height:1.5rem;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-transform:scale(-1, 1);-moz-transform:scale(-1, 1);-ms-transform:scale(-1, 1);transform:scale(-1, 1);background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-1jdielu:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/townandcountrymag/static/images/diamond-header-design-element.80fb60e.svg);}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1jdielu:before{margin:0 0.625rem 0.25rem;}} Royal Family News @media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-128xfoy:before{margin:0.625rem 0.625rem 0;width:3.5rem;-webkit-filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);filter:invert(17%) sepia(72%) saturate(710%) hue-rotate(181deg) brightness(97%) contrast(97%);height:1.5rem;content:'';display:inline-block;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-128xfoy:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/townandcountrymag/static/images/diamond-header-design-element.80fb60e.svg);}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-128xfoy:before{margin:0 0.625rem 0.25rem;}}

Prince Harry Plays Polo in Palm Beach

How Amanda Thirsk Convinced Andrew to Do Interview

Eugenie Mastered Transitional Season Style

Prince Andrew Is Particular About Stuffed Animals

Queen Sofía Is Hospitalized

Prince William Brings George to a Soccer Match

Meghan & Harry's Netflix Projects in Development

Meghan & Harry's New Projects at Netflix

Was Andrew Really Queen Elizabeth's Favorite Son?

Prince Harry Meets Mindy Kaling

Prince Andrew Reportedly Loved 'Scoop'

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

The Crown: What Really Happened During Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s Fateful Tour of Australia

By Elise Taylor

The title of season four, episode six of The Crown is “Terra Nullius,” a Latin phrase that means “nobody’s land.” Creator Peter Morgan no doubt picked it due to the presiding plotline: Charles and Diana’s 1983 royal tour of Australia, which coincides with the country’s growing movement to leave the British Commonwealth. Nearly 200 years earlier, Great Britain used the concept of “terra nullius” to justify colonizing Australia, claiming the land was unclaimed and unpopulated, despite its residing Aboriginal population.

But it also serves as a double entendre: Diana and Charles also find themselves in uncharted territory, a no man’s land. This is their first overseas tour together—and with the monarchy in a perilous position, a successful impression is paramount. Can they put aside their early marital problems, their clashing personalities, for the Crown? Or are they doomed to fail? While, for a brief moment, Morgan depicts the two sharing a moment of true connection, they are soon at odds again. After the tour is done, Charles takes a car back to their country home of Highgrove, whereas Princess Diana hightails it back to Kensington Palace in London. They never found common ground.

The episode chalks up their cracks to a multitude of factors: Diana’s supposed fragility—Charles gets frustrated that she can’t hike up Ayers Rock (now renamed Uluru) without stopping. The presence of Prince William—Diana wanted to bring him on tour and is anxious about their separation, much to the dismay of the royal courtiers and their strict schedules. Then, perhaps most of all, there’s Diana’s explosive popularity, which overshadows Charles’s: “This was supposed to be my tour! My tour as Prince of Wales to shore up a key country in the Commonwealth at a very delicate moment politically!” Josh O’Connor’s Charles screams at Emma Corrin’s Diana.

The Crown , at the end of the day, is historical fiction—the show takes real-life events and dramatizes them. So, in this hour-long tale of a very well-known couple, what’s fact, and what’s fiction?

It’s true that this was a politically sensitive tour: A wave of Republicanism was sweeping Australia, championed by its Prime Minister at the time, Robert Hawke. On March 6, 1983, a mere 12 days before Charles and Diana were set to fly to the continent, a television interviewer asked if Charles would make a good king of Australia. “I don't think we will be talking about kings of Australia forever more,” he replied. Then he said he thought people would eventually vote to have a republic.

Princess Diana, Prince Charles, and Prince William arrive in Alice Springs, Australia. Diana was the first royal to bring her baby on an overseas tour, breaking traditional protocol.

It’s also true that the monarchy was worried about how Diana would fare. The tour was a grueling one, by any standards: a month long, the couple were set to cover 30,000 miles and make up to eight appearances in one day. And while Prince Charles had been doing this type of work his whole life, it was 21-year-old Diana’s first overseas royal tour. “The Queen is ‘terribly worried’ before the tour because of Diana’s youth and apparent shyness,” wrote the Press Association’s royal correspondent Grania Forbes ahead of the trip.

It didn’t help that the British tabloids had already started to paint her as unpredictable—the Daily Mirror had recently published an exploitative story about rumors of her eating disorder. While the international press waited for the couple to land in Alice Springs, Australia from London, The Sydney Morning Herald ’s Alison Stuart recalled the reporters gossiping: “Would she snap, would she cry, would she collapse from the heat?”

At the beginning, Diana did indeed show signs of fatigue. The Sydney Morning Herald found that during the tour’s first engagement, she looked “uncomfortably sunburned” and that her “eyes were downcast.” Charles apologized and said they were both still suffering from jet-lag. On March 22—three days after they landed in Australia—an Associated Press report described her as red-faced and bare-legged. “I can’t cope with the heat very well,” she said.

By Philipp Wehsack

By Jenny Berg

Prince Charles and Princess Diana at Uluru. While The Crown suggests Diana struggled due to the heat, reports at the time say her hesitation was due to her rather impractical outdoor outfit.

In The Crown , a scene at Uluru supposedly showcases the princess’s early weakness. Only a few yards up the slope, Diana suddenly stops while the press pack eagerly snaps photos from below. “Charles, I can’t. The heat. I feel dizzy,” Corrin’s Diana exclaims. She leaves him to climb the rest alone. “I think I need to go and sit down.” Afterwards, O’Connor’s Charles snarls to his confidante Camilla Parker-Bowles on the phone: “She’s pathetic .”

Video footage at the time does show Diana hesitating on Uluru. Yet it wasn’t fatigue that caused the pause—rather, it was her outfit. Dressed in a dainty white frock with flats, it wasn’t, well, the most practical of hiking apparel. Especially when there are cameras below capturing your every move.

Here’s an account from the Morning Herald : “As she stepped off the plane at Ayers Rock, she looked down in horror. Her dress, buttoned down the front was immediately blown open revealing her petticoat and knees. From that moment, the Princess made constant but hopeless attempts to keep the dress closed,” they wrote. “When Charles coaxed her to climb part of the way up the rock, she hesitated, not through fear of slipping, but because she knew that coming down would expose her knees and petticoat to the world’s press.”

In reality, except for a few hiccups, Diana executed a remarkable performance in those initial days. “Despite the predictions, Diana, apart from some strain and tiredness, has fared well,” said the Morning Herald at the time. “She might be made of tougher stuff than many think.”

Prince Charles and Princess Diana get ready to dance in Sydney.

As the royal tour really got into the swing of things—and Diana’s sunburn and jet lag likely died down—Charles and Diana thoroughly charmed the country. They dynamically danced at Sheraton Wentworth Hotel, with Diana donning a spectacular turquoise dress. Charles scored a goal at a polo match in Sydney and the crowd erupted into cheers. (As The Crown shows, he did also fall, much to his chagrin.) In Perth, they made headlines when Charles tenderly kissed Diana’s hand in public. “Prince plays the gallant at royal party,” read a headline in the Times of London. And although that scene that shows Charles and Diana playing with baby Prince William on a blanket actually took place in New Zealand, not Australia, they did delight audiences by sharing cheerful tales about their young son. (Yes, William did love his stuffed koala.)

Diana’s popularity started to massively eclipse that of her husband. “The Princess of Wales was the woman they’d come to see, and the people of the Riverland weren’t disappointed,” a broadcaster from ABC said on April 6. “The Princess seemed more anxious to meet the people than did her husband. She dispensed tidbits concerning Prince William’s health, the weather, and jokingly inquired of an elderly citizen if she had any whiskey in her picnic basket.” They showed clips of Diana swarmed by crowds, one man holding up a sign that read “Di is beautiful.” On April 15, the Melbourne Herald ran a cartoon that showed a map of Australia superimposed with a heart. “Princess Diana,” read a caption. “A permanent imprint!” Two days later, the Sydney Herald echoed the same sentiment: “Di Thrills the Queen!” said a headline.

Three days later, the Times of London cemented Diana’s smashing success. They printed the headline “The Princess who won the heart of Australia.” The story began: “The month-long tour of Australia by the Prince and Princess of Wales, which ended yesterday when the royal couple flew to New Zealand, was an unqualified success, due in large part to the Princess. She won the heart of Australia.” The Evening Standard took it one step further, saying: ”This tour has set Republicanism back 10 years.” In Sarah Bradford’s book , Diana , she quotes a bodyguard who said her reception in Australia was akin to Beatlemania.

Princess Diana, surrounded by crowds outside the Sydney Opera House.

Sadly, The Crown is right: Diana’s supernova star-power in Australia did make Charles jealous, and caused additional tension in their marriage. In a 1995 interview with the BBC , the Princess recalled that the attention she received during the tour’s royal walkabouts upset him. “We'd be going round Australia, for instance, and all you could hear was, ‘oh, she's on the other side.’ Now, if you're a man—like my husband—a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for four weeks. You feel low about it, instead of feeling happy and sharing it.” The press fawning made things worse: “With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that,” she said. It was, in some ways, the beginning of the end.

Get updates on the Met Gala

By signing up you agree to our User Agreement (including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions ), our Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement and to receive marketing and account-related emails from Architectural Digest.. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Looking back at Princess Diana and Prince Charles' 1983 Australian tour, soon to be seen in The Crown

By Natalie Oliveri | 3 years ago

Australia's love affair with the British royal family is, undoubtedly, one of the strongest and most enduring throughout the Commonwealth.

It was strengthened like never before in 1983 when the new Prince and Princess of Wales embarked on their first joint tour Down Under, just two years after their fairy tale wedding .

But unbeknownst to adoring royal fans, the marriage was not a happy one and the six-week tour of Australia and New Zealand only moved to deepen the divide that had been growing between the Prince Charles and Diana.

The mammoth royal visit is the focus of episode six, Terra Nullis, of The Crown season four, which returns to Netflix this Sunday.

The highly anticipated season will see the introduction of Lady Diana and follows her engagement and royal wedding to the future king of England.

Set during the 1980s, it'll feature moments still fresh in the minds of many royal fans, including that 1983 tour.

Diana and Charles visited Australia three times together during their marriage. Prior to her engagement being announced, Diana holidayed in New South Wales, relishing her final months in relative anonymity. In 1996, Diana made her final visit here, but as a divorced woman and free from the constraints of royal life.

Here are some of the highlights from Diana and Charles's 1983 tour in Australia.

Prince William's first royal tour

When Charles and Diana visited Australia as husband and wife for the first time in 1983, they brought along their young son rather than leaving him with nannies at Kensington Palace.

Diana had insisted on bringing then-nine-month-old baby William with her and Charles, in a major break in royal protocol.

As the Royal Australian Air Force plane carrying the royals touched down on Australian soil in Alice Springs on a hot morning in March, William was given a very Aussie welcome when a blowfly landed on his head.

While posing for photographers on the tarmac, Prince Charles was heard saying: "Look, he's got a fly on him already".

Days later, Diana and Charles stood for photographers in front of Uluru – then known as Ayers Rock – at sunset for a photo that has become one of their most iconic, and was recreated by Prince William and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, in 2014 during their first tour of Australia. They, too, brought along their young son – Prince George was also nine-months-old at the time.

The Prince and Princess of Wales also did what many tourists to the Top End did at the time, and climbed Uluru.

Diana talks about baby William

When speaking with children living in outback communities via the School of the Air radio, Diana was asked by one of the young participants about William's favourite toys.

"Um, Jamie, he loves his koala bear he's got, but he hasn't got anything particular, he just likes something with a bit of noise," Diana said.

The princess was also asked whether Prince William had a bicycle.

"He hasn't got one yet, I think he's a bit small… perhaps when he's your age and size we might get him one," she said.

The baby prince was left with his nannies at Woomargama, a sheep station near Albury, chosen because its location allowed his parents to fly back to him every night during that leg of the tour.

Hysteria at the Sydney Opera House

Diana cemented her popularity within the British royal family – and with her Australian fans – when she and Charles visited the Sydney Opera House, an appearance that saw thousands of people line the streets of the harbour foreshore and steps of the building to catch a glimpse of the couple.

People were hanging out of windows and office buildings as Diana and Charles drove by in an open-air car, the mass hysteria briefly taking its toll on Diana, who broke down in tears momentarily – something Charles apparently failed to notice.

When it came time to sing the Australian national anthem, a shy Di looked lost for words – but that only endeared her more to the public.

Her appearance in a flowing pink and white dress, and matching hat, that day remains one of her most enduring.

A fractured marriage

Prince Charles and Diana looked the picture of happiness when they took a turn on the dance floor at a gala dinner and dance at the Wentworth Hotel in Sydney.

Wearing a blue gown by Bruce Oldfield and her Collingwood peal earrings, Diana shone.

But as crowds turned out to see her at every public appearance, a jealousy was growing within Prince Charles for the attention Diana was receiving instead of him.

After all, the Australian tour was meant to show off the Prince of Wales as the next king — but the public had eyes for Diana only.

Diana's star power on show

The Princess of Wales was months away from her 22 nd birthday during the tour, and while she was relatively new at her royal role, her natural warmth and affinity with the public made her seem like a seasoned professional.

But Diana was never instructed how to behave in front of hordes of crowds, all while having to maintain an air of formality the British royals had been perfecting for decades.

"Traumatic," Diana later wrote of her first days in Australia, "the week I learned to be royal". 

With stops in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Alice Springs, Sydney, Hobart and other small towns along the way, the royal tour saw constant pressure placed on both Diana and Charles.

Diana complained about having sore and red eyes nearly every night, while it's estimated the couple shook more than 2000 hands every day.

Endless engagements and fashion

The royal tour was also about official business and Diana and Charles were the guests of honour at many formal dinners, where they mingled with dignitaries and politicians.

The tour came at a time when the newly-elected Bob Hawke government had visions of an Australian republic on the horizon, with the Whitlam dismissal by the Queen's representative, Sir John Kerr, taking place just eight years earlier.

Her four weeks in Australia was also the first major look at Diana's fashion credentials and her every appearance was scrutinised and copied – something that hadn't really changed when it comes to royal women.

It was also an opportunity for the young princess to show off some of her most stunning and now-iconic jewels, many of which were gifted as wedding presents just two years earlier.

Diana mobbed by fans

Then-Victorian Labor premier John Cain wrote about the 1983 visit in his private diary, commenting on the huge crowds during Diana and Charles' visit to Cockatoo near Melbourne, where the community was still recovering from the Ash Wednesday bushfires in February.

"Astounding," Cain wrote. "People still respond to the mystery and aura and all the trappings that surround royalty."

He also commented about the tension brewing between Diana and Charles in the struggle for popularity.

"The prince did indicate to me in one of the several discussions we had that people responded more warmly to his wife that they did to him," Caine said. "He felt she was the subject of more attention and acceptance than he was."

• British Royal Family
• Princess Diana
• Prince Charles

Property News: This tiny blue shack is worth more than $2.4 million for one specific reason.

King praises first responders after 'senseless attack' in Bondi

Comedians split after nine years of marriage

Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis Ford Coppola, dies

Charles Described 1983 Royal Tour of Australia with Diana as 'Great Joy'

How real life compares to what the 'The Crown' shows in episode 6, 'Terra Nullius.'

Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

How did Charles and Diana get along during their 1983 tour of Australia?

In the show, the tour gets off to a rocky start, as Charles (Josh O'Connor) and Diana (Emma Corrin) are both awkward in front of the press and miserable in private. Their public stumbling is accurate—Charles made a couple of gaffes that went down poorly down under, including a joke about feeding Prince William “warm milk and minced kangaroo,” which reportedly upset animal lovers.

In his infamous 1992 biography Diana: Her True Story—In Her Own Words , Andrew Morton called the tour "a test of endurance for Diana." The couple were greeted by hysterical crowds in many of the cities they visited, and Diana was "jet-lagged, anxious and sick with bulimia," per Morton.

Diana's turmoil was not particularly well-hidden, and at one point she burst into tears during a public appearance outside the Sydney Opera House. A photographer who captured the moment, Ken Lennox, described it during the documentary Inside the Crown: Secrets of the Royals, per Vanity Fair :

I’m about four feet from the princess and I’m trying to get a bit of the opera house in the background and some of the crowd, and Diana burst into tears and wept for a couple of minutes. Charles I don’t think has noticed [Diana crying] at that stage. If he has, typical of Prince Charles to look the other way.

So although we don't know exactly what happened behind closed doors, it seems safe to assume that Charles and Diana really were fighting in private, as the show depicts. One source of tension, according to Morton in his biography, was Charles's jealousy—Diana was overshadowing him, and he knew it:

While Diana looked to her husband for a lead and guidance, the way the press and public reacted to the royal couple merely served to drive a wedge between them. The crowds complained when Prince Charles went over to their side of the street during a walkabout… In public, Charles accepted the revised status quo with good grace; in private he blamed Diana.

But there were some notable high points, including Charles and Diana's dance together at a charity ball in Sydney. The public impression of the couple was, at this time, that they were very much in love.

Was there pushback to Charles and Diana bringing Prince William to Australia?

Not quite. Onscreen, Diana very reasonably refused to leave her 10-month-old son behind in England for weeks. She insists on bringing William along, angering Charles and many royal advisers in the process. Royal protocol dictates that two heirs should not travel together on the same trip in order to protect the line of succession—then, as now, Charles was first in line to the throne while William was second. This meant bringing William was breaking protocol.

But in real life, Diana didn't push the subject. In fact, according to Morton's biography, she was "all ready to leave William. I accepted that as part of duty, albeit it wasn’t going to be easy.” It was only when the former Australian prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, suggested they bring William that they realized it was a possibility.

And though William was separated from his parents for much of the tour, the family did enjoy some happy times together in Australia. In in her biography of Prince Charles (per Vanity Fair ) , Sally Bedell Smith describes a letter Charles wrote to a friend in which he recounts a particularly blissful moment with Diana and William. "The great joy was that we were totally alone together,” he wrote, recalling he and Diana watched William crawling around "at high speed knocking everything off the tables and causing unbelievable destruction," as they "laughed and laughed with sheer, hysterical pleasure.”

Did Charles and Diana's visit really prevent Australia from abolishing the monarchy?

The Crown depicts Charles and Diana's visit as having major political implications. In the show, newly-elected prime minister Bob Hawke is forced to make a U-turn in his plan to remove Australia from royal rule as part of the Commonwealth and turn the country into a republic. Why? Because Diana is so extraordinarily popular that public opinion has turned in favor of the monarchy.

Diana: Her True Story—In Her Own Words

"She's made us both look like chumps," Hawke tells Charles. "No offense, but if it'd just been you, I'd have got my wishes. But then she comes along!"

Though there's no evidence that a conversation like this actually took place between Hawke and Charles, the implication is otherwise pretty accurate. Throughout the 1970s, the popularity of the monarchy had been in decline in Australia, and Hawke was a staunch republican who made no secret of his feeling that the country would be better off as an independent nation.

But Diana was so beloved across the nation by the end of her tour with Charles that the republican cause had been set back by "two decades." When the country held a referendum in 1999 to vote on the possibility of becoming a republic, the public voted no. Today, though, polls suggest that public opinion in Australia is once again shifting away from the monarchy .

The Very New Life of Meg Bellamy

How Did William and Kate Actually Meet?

When Do New Episodes of 'The Crown' Come Out?

Did Prince William Run Away After Diana’s Death?

Royal Outfits That Were Recreated on 'The Crown'

Elizabeth Debicki on Filming Princess Diana Scenes

Inside Princess Diana’s and Dodi’s Vacation

Did Dodi Propose to Diana? 'The Crown' Thinks So.

A Timeline of Dodi and Diana's Romance

Who Was Dodi Fayed's Ex-Girlfriend, Kelly Fisher?

Who Is the Real Mohamed Al-Fayed?

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• What Is Cinema?
• Newsletters

The Crown: Why Princess Diana Burst Into Tears During 1983 Australian Tour

By Julie Miller

Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s 1983 Australian tour—recreated on the fourth season of The Crown —proved to be an inflection point in their young marriage . It was during that six-week visit to Australia and New Zealand when Charles first realized how much the public preferred his pretty young wife to him. And Diana, in turn, realized there was nothing she could do to temper her husband’s jealousy or convince him she didn’t want the spotlight.

At one point, during the real-life tour, the young princess even erupted into tears during a public appearance outside the Sydney Opera House. The photographer who captured the heart-wrenching image, Ken Lennox , has since explained what he saw that day.

“I’m about four feet from the princess and I’m trying to get a bit of the opera house in the background and some of the crowd, and Diana burst into tears and wept for a couple of minutes,” Lennox recalled during ITV’s Inside the Crown: Secrets of the Royals . “Charles I don’t think has noticed [Diana crying] at that stage. If he has, typical of Prince Charles to look the other way.” During that tour, Lennox said that crowds would plainly tell Charles, “Bring your wife over,” rather than fawn over the prince.

“The prince was embarrassed the crowds so clearly favored her over him,” wrote Sally Bedell Smith in her biography , Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life . “For her part, Diana was upset by the disproportionate interest in her, especially when she realized that it was disturbing Charles. She collapsed under the strain, weeping to her lady-in-waiting and secretly succumbing to bulimia. In letters to friends, Charles described his anguish over the impact ‘all this obsessed and crazed attention was having on his wife.’”

Diana biographer Andrew Morton has said that the Australia tour “was a terrifying baptism of fire. . .Just 21, the newly minted royal was petrified of facing the crowds, meeting the countless dignitaries as well as the fabled royal ‘rat pack,’ the media circus who follow the royals around the globe.”

Writing for the New York Post , Morton added:

“When she walked into the media reception in the unglamorous setting of an Alice Springs hotel, she was hot, jet-lagged and sunburned. Yet she was able to charm and captivate the representatives of the Fourth Estate. Only later did I realize that the tour was utterly traumatic. Back in the privacy of her hotel room, she cried her eyes out, unable to handle the constant attention. [...] It didn’t help that Prince Charles, the former top of the billing, was reduced to a walk-on part, the crowds groaning when he came to their side of the road during their many visits. As Diana told me: “He was jealous; I understood the jealousy but I couldn’t explain that I didn’t ask for it.”

The couple’s only happiness during the tour came when the young family was far away from the crowds—visiting nine-month-old Prince William at the cattle and sheep ranch Woomargama, where he was staying with a nanny.

“The great joy was that we were totally alone together,” Charles wrote a friend, according to Smith. At the ranch, Charles and Diana watched William’s first efforts at crawling—“at high speed knocking everything off the tables and causing unbelievable destruction.” The new parents, according to Charles, “laughed and laughed with sheer, hysterical pleasure.”

All products featured on Vanity Fair are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

— Princess Diana—and the ’80s— Give New Life to The Crown in Season Four — Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin on Playing One of the Most Famous (and Ill-Fated) Couples of the 20th Century — Gillian Anderson Plays Margaret Thatcher, the Perfect Counterpoint to the Queen — After The Crown , Here’s Where to Get Your Princess Diana Fix — Prince Philip’s Impressive “Bullshit-o-Meter,” According to Tobias Menzies — How to Recreate Diana’s Most Memorable Style Moments — From the Archive: Tina Brown on Princess Diana, the Mouse That Roared

By Savannah Walsh

By Chris Murphy

— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.

Julie Miller

Hollywood correspondent.

By Elizabeth Holmes

By Katie Nicholl

By Yohana Desta

By Bess Levin

By Eric Lutz

By Kase Wickman

Photos show the true story behind Princess Diana's famous Australia tour featured on 'The Crown'

• In March 1983, Princess Diana flew to Australia with Prince Charles and her son, Prince William, for her first-ever overseas tour. 
• The four weeks Diana spent in Australia solidified her reputation as the "people's princess," but created a rift between her and Charles.
• The 1983 tour has come back into focus because it's one of the key storylines in season four of Netflix's " The Crown ."
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories .

"Uneasy, even glum" is how a news report described Princess Diana when she arrived in Alice Springs, Australia, for her first-ever overseas tour with Prince Charles.

For Diana, only 21 years old and just two years into her marriage with Prince Charles, the highly public tour was a "terrifying baptism of fire," Diana's confidant and biographer Andrew Morton wrote for the New York Post in 2017.

But by the end of the tour four weeks later, Diana had solidified her reputation as the "people's princess," charming her way into the hearts of Australians at a time when the monarchy was looking to repair public opinion in the Commonwealth.

The tour is a central focus of season four of Netflix's " The Crown ." Released on November 15, the newest season depicts the lives of the British monarchy from 1979 through 1990.  Episode six, "Terra Nullius," shows how young Diana, played by actress Emma Corrin, eclipsed Prince Charles, played by actor Josh O'Connor, in fame as they traveled around Australia, causing a rift between the royal pair. 

Here's how the real-life tour happened and a look back in photos.

On March 20, 1983, 21-year-old Princess Diana arrived with her husband Prince Charles in Alice Springs, Australia, for her first-ever overseas royal tour.

Source: Beneath the Crown

The royal couple would spend four weeks touring Australia in order to repair public opinion of the monarchy.

In a break with royal tradition, Diana insisted that her 9-month-old son, Prince William, travel with them. Previously, children of heirs had remained in England during overseas tours.

While his parents toured the country, Prince William stayed with his nanny at the family's home base, a sheep ranch in central Australia called Woomargama.

Source: The Age , PM Transcripts

The royal couple's first official stop was at Uluru, a sacred site to indigenous Australians also know as Ayers Rock.

During the visit, Diana expressed her discomfort with the heat and asked for a glass of water. This endeared Diana to the public, Anita Rani explains in an episode of Netflix's "Beneath the Crown," since "royals were not supposed to show such emotions in public."

Newly inducted Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who had publicly expressed his desire to lessen Australia's ties to the British crown on TV, met with the young couple three days later.

Source:  Beneath the Crown

Hawke was skeptical that the royal couple could charm Australians and rebuild public faith in the monarchy, according to BBC's HistoryExtra. What he didn't count on was Diana's likability.

Source: HistoryExtra

Australians quickly fell in love with Diana's easygoing manner and showed up in droves to see her.

"Diana...was accessible to the public, physically and emotionally," Netflix's Rani said. "She's estimated to have shaken hands at least 6,000 times with members of the public on this tour and offered down-to-earth comments to her admirers."

"Mothers, in particular, gravitated towards her, impressed by her refusal to leave William back in the UK," Rani said.

A photo taken one week after their arrival in Australia shows Diana outside of the Sydney Opera House surrounded by throngs of spectators.

Source: Getty

In April, The Times ran an article saying that Diana "won the heart of Australia" and that the tour was "an unqualified success, due in large part to the Princess."

Source: The Times

While Diana's star appeal helped the reputation of the monarchy, it served to "drive a wedge" between her and Charles, who was used to the limelight, Andrew Morton wrote in his 1992 biography "Diana: Her True Story."

Source: Diana: Her True Story

"The crowds complained when Prince Charles went over to their side of the street during a walkabout ... In public, Charles accepted the revised status quo with good grace; in private he blamed Diana," Morton wrote.

The couple did have good moments during the trip. One was during a charity ball in Sydney on March 28 where they shared their first dance together on tour. "They gave the impression that they were very much in love," Rani said of the dance.

But tension grew between them as Diana's fame blossomed. "With the media attention came a lot of jealousy," Diana told the BBC in a 1995 broadcast. "A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that."

Source: BBC

On April 17, Diana and Charles concluded their tour in Australia and flew to New Zealand for two weeks before returning home to London.

While Diana had worked her way into the hearts of Australians, the trip highlighted fissures in her marriage with Charles that would ultimately deepen over time.

• Photos show the true story behind Princess Diana's famous New York City visit featured on 'The Crown'
• Inside the famously discreet New York City hotel known as the 'Palace of Secrets' that Princess Diana frequented
• The true story behind the fatal avalanche on 'The Crown' that was a turning point for Charles and Diana's marriage
• Inside the rugged Swiss ski resort where Prince Charles survived an avalanche that killed one of his close friends
• Photos show how 'The Crown' re-created Princess Diana's outfits, from her wedding dress to glamorous gowns

Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

Our Royal Insider Facebook group is the best place for up-to-date news and announcements about the British royal family, direct from Insider's royal reporters. Join here.

• Main content

Inside the Australia Trip that Made Princess Diana a Star

Diana said she was a "different person" upon her return.

Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.

• The season's ninth episode, "Terra Nullis," focuses on Charles and Diana's six week-long trip to Australia in 1983.
• Here's the truth behind that precedent-breaking trip, including how Diana refused to leave young Prince William behind.

Technically , Diana Spencer became Princess Diana in 1981, when she married Prince Charles , heir to the English throne. But as season 4 of The Crown shows, Diana's growth into a figure of international adoration and respect—the so-called "People's Princess" —took more time.

"Terra Nullis," episode 9 of The Crown , depicts a turning point in Diana's personal life and public image–and the intersection of the two. Diana's first trip abroad would prove to be a pivotal one: The 22-year-old established herself as an instantly charming presence, fashion icon, and a royal rule-breaker.

Fast forwarding past the couple's elaborate royal wedding, The Crown instead uses the 1983 tour to capture the charged early years of Charles and Diana's marriage. In every scene, a new facet in their complicated union emerges. Charles's shock, and eventual jealousy, of Diana's effortless star status. Diana's longing to be adored by Charles and the crowds. Their commitment to work on their relationship—and how fragile those vows became, when tested by their unique circumstances.

For all these reasons, "Terra Nullis" is this season's stand-out episode. Here's the truth behind the trip that made Diana a star.

Princess Diana won over crowds of Australians.

Charles and Diana traveled to Australia at a tense time in the countries' relationships. Australia had just elected the Labour leader Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke in a landslide, and he wanted to eliminate Australia's ties to the Commonwealth and monarchy—essentially, everything that the Prince and Princess of Wales represented.

"The tour had a serious political goal—persuading the grumpy and increasingly Republican Australian continent that it still wanted a monarchy in the first place," Tina Brown wrote in The Diana Chronicles .

But according to Brown, Diana's vast popularity, which drew 400,000 people in Brisbane alone, "turned the whole mood around." Diana and her charming "lack of pretension" even "mesmerized" Bob Hawke, per Brown. "By the end of Charles and Diana's tour, a poll in Australia found that Monarchists outnumbered Republicans two to one..the twenty-one year old Princess of Wales had proved she was a dazzling new PR person for the British Crown," Brown wrote.

Years later, Diana told biographer Andrew Morton that she was a "different person" upon returning to England. She was a star.

Prince Charles was reportedly jealous of Diana's star power.

Australians rushed to catch a glimpse of Diana. They were less enthused to see Charles. According to Brown, people would "openly [groan] in disappointment."

"Victor Chapman, the press secretary on the tour, got used to late-night phone calls from Charles complaining about the scant coverage of himself in the press compared to the hagiographic acres accorded of his wife," Brown wrote, cheekily.

Charles's letters written from the trip, seen in Penny Junor's book Prince William , give insight into his mindset. "I do feel desperate for Diana. There is no twitch she can make without these ghastly, and I am quite convinced, mindless people photographing it...How can anyone, let alone a 21-year-old, be expected to come out of this obsessed and crazed attention unscathed?"

Breaking with royal protocol, Diana refused to leave Prince William in England.

In The Crown , Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) casually establishes how royal tours normally proceeded: The parents traveled, and the kids stayed home. "We never took the children anywhere. When we took the children to Australia in 1954, we left them at home for six months," Elizabeth says in The Crown .

Diana broke with generations of royal precedent by refusing to leave her son, 10-month-old Prince William, in England while they were away, per E! News. Instead, William stayed at a "sheep station" (a large ranch) in Australia and the couple flew back repeatedly to visit him between destinations.

Yes, Diana spoke about Prince William's stuffed animals on a radio show.

As probably already gathered by this point, Diana was a major hit in Australia. During their stop in Alice Springs, Diana and Charles took a trip to a local radio station. In The Crown , Diana brings up Prince William's whale stuffed animal unprompted, whereas in real life, Charles whispered the idea to her. Brown, in The Diana Chronicles , wrote that Diana's lack of pretension about topics like motherhood is what helped her win over many Australians.

And they climbed Uluru, as Prince William would do with his wife in 2014.

In The Crown , Charles and Diana visit Uluru, a large sandstone rock formation that rises suddenly out of the desert in central Australia, and is sacred to indigenous Australians, per the BBC . As Life's special edition Diana: A Princess Remembered notes, the princess wore "not-so-suitable" shoes for the rigorous climb.

A video captures Diana and Charles scaling the start of the 2,831" rock—though not the part where Diana turns around.

In 2014, in a real full-circle moment, Prince William—who had been a baby on his parents' trip—visited Australia with his wife, Kate Middleton, and their son, Prince George (in line to inherit the throne). The Cambridges recreated Charles and Diana's photo opp before Uluru, taken 31 years prior, per Vanity Fair .

The couple made headlines for dancing.

As "Terra Nullis" shows so well, Charles and Diana's marriage had its triumphs and moments of synergy. One such moment occurred on the dance floor of a charity ball.

A video taken that evening captures their Dancing With the Stars -worthy moves.

They danced multiple times that tour, actually.

Diana spent time with Australian lifeguards, just as Princess Margaret once did.

If you're a lifeguard at Australia's famous Bondi Beach, there's a good chance you may, one day, get to speak to a visiting royal. Diana visited Terrigal Beach in 1983.

In her book Lady in Waiting , Lady Glenconner recalls accompanying Princess Margaret to Bondi Beach during an official trip to Australia in 1975. Unlike Diana, she wasn't as taken with her surroundings.

"One of the things on the itinerary for Sydney was a visit to Bondi Beach, which included a photo call on the sand with the lifeguards. On discovering this, Princess Margaret wasn’t happy. The idea of sinking into the sand during a formal engagement was not something she was interested in," Glenconner wrote, per an excerpt in OprahMag.com . Margaret was eventually persuaded to change into her flat shoes and proceed with the engagement, but was ultimately not pleased: “But weren’t those lifeguards disappointing?” she said.

For more ways to live your best life plus all things Oprah, sign up for our newsletter!

Elena Nicolaou is the former culture editor at Oprah Daily. 

Culture & News

Rumi Carter Gets First Music Milestone

Rihanna Says She Wants a Baby Girl With A$AP Rocky

Carnie Wilson Posts 40-Pound Weight Loss Instagram

Zendaya Opens Up About Fame and Her Future

Rebel Wilson on Trying Ozempic for Weight Loss

Looking to Take a Leap in Life? Read This

The Best Anne Lamott Quotes

Chrissy Teigen Shares Fam Pics from Thailand Trip

Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen Divorce

"Today" Fans Love Hoda's Rare IG of Daughter Hope

Kelly Ripa Has Thoughts About "Titanic" on "Live"

The best moments from Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 1983 tour, 37 years on

By Annabelle Spranklen

Royal tours might be off the cards for a while but that won’t stop us looking back at some of our favourites. This year marks 37 years since the Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales embarked on their six-week tour of Australia and New Zealand with a 10-month old Prince William in tow, touching down in Alice Springs airport on the 20th March, 1983 and arriving in New Zealand on 17th April.

At the time, The Prince and Princess of Wales had been married just two years and to the public, their fairytale life was very much still intact. It was Diana who pulled the crowds, always more popular than her husband during walkabouts. The Queen’s cousin, Lady Elizabeth Anson, revealed in an interview that it was something Charles realised early on in their marriage during a trip to Wales, when he apparently told aides, ‘They’ve come out to see my wife, they haven’t come out to see me.’

The couple’s 1983 tour ran like a tight ship, everyday there was a packed itinerary which included photocalls, charity balls, receptions, polo matches, church services and Maori ceremonies.

At 22-years-old, it was Diana’s first overseas trip and the first tour that William had ever been on. Diana had allegedly gone against royal protocol which was that children were usually left in others’ care while they were travelling and had refused to leave him behind - a decision that her daughter-in-laws, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex, would later follow.

During the tour it was estimated that the royal couple shook approximately 2,000 hands per day leaving Diana’s red and sore every evening. The vast amount of public appearances meant the young princess’s wardrobe was being closely watched like never before - and she didn’t disappoint.

In fact, this tour is noted as being one of Diana’s fashion greats and one that saw her debuting some of her most iconic styles - the romantic, pretty Princess Di that encapsulated the new era of a young royal mother and her family. Hardly surprising that the fourth season of The Crown is set to heavily feature this tour, starring Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connell as the couple.

To mark the 37th anniversary, we look back at some of the best moments of the 1983 tour Down Under.

Diana, Princess of Wales visiting a war memorial in Canberra, Australia.

Diana, Princess of Wales and the Prince of Wales posing in front of Ayers Rock near Alice Springs, Australia.

Diana, Princess of Wales in a dress designed by Benny Ong at Ayers Rock, Australia.

The Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales dancing together at a charity ball in Sydney, Australia.

Diana, Princess of Wales and the Prince of Wales at the Crest Hotel in Brisbane, Australia. The Princess wore Saudi Arabian sapphires with a dress designed by Victor Edelstein.

Diana, Princess of Wales wearing a pink Donald Campbell suit at the Perth Hockey Stadium in Bentley, Australia.

Diana, Princess of Wales wearing a pink Catherine Walker dress and a hat by John Boyd in Newcastle, Australia.

The Prince And Princess Of Wales meeting school children during a trip to Alice Springs, Australia.

By Harriet Johnston

By Isaac Zamet

By Isaac Bickerstaff

Diana, Princess of Wales wore a Victor Edelstein gown and the Spencer Tiara to a state reception in Brisbane, Australia.

Diana, Princess of Wales wearing a dress by The Emanuels at Parliament House in New Zealand with Prime Minister Robert Muldoon.

The Prince and Princess of Wales visit an RAF base in Christchurch, New Zealand. Diana is wearing a Catherine Walker coat and John Boyd hat.

Prince William, Diana, Princess of Wales and the Prince of Wales at Government House in Auckland, New Zealand.

Diana, Princess of Wales arriving in New Zealand wearing Catherine Walker with a hat by John Boyd.

Diana, Princess of Wales during a walkabout in Dunedin, New Zealand.

The Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales during a visit to Manukau, near Auckland, New Zealand. Diana wore a Jan Van Velden suit with a hat by John Boyd.

Diana, Princess of Wales in a Donald Campbell gown at a gala ballet performance in Auckland, New Zealand.

Diana, Princess of Wales at farewell banquet in Auckland, New Zealand wearing a cream taffeta and lace gown by Gina Frattini and the Cambridge Lovers' Knot tiara.

By Bystander

By Rebecca Cope

By Dora Davies-Evitt

• POPSUGAR Australia

Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 1983 Royal Tour of Australia in Photos

In March 1983, Prince Charles and Princess Diana touched down in Australia for a royal tour, bringing along a baby Prince William. Not only was it Princess Diana’s first trip abroad, but it was also baby William’s first world tour. Over the course of a few weeks, the family made appearances all over Australia and New Zealand, waving to crowds, meeting with world leaders, and dancing the night away at events. Season four of The Crown gives you a glimpse of this tour, which you can compare to the real photos of the royal family in the gallery ahead.

Related: Why The Crown Season 4 Opted Not to Show Prince Charles and Princess Diana's Wedding

POPSUGAR AUSTRALIA RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX

By signing up, I agree to the Terms & to receive emails from POPSUGAR.

FOLLOW. LIKE. LOVE.

The next story, coming up!

• For the W - Women in Sport
• Celebrity Latest Celebrity TV Reality TV Movies Books Music
• Fashion Latest Fashion Celebrity Style Fashion News Fashion Trends Red Carpet Street Style
• Beauty Latest Beauty Celebrity Beauty Beauty News Beauty Trends Summer Skin Guide Skin Care Makeup
• Health & Fitness Latest Health & Fitness Health Mental Health Wellness Workouts Uninhibited: The Fertility Edition
• Gaming Latest Gaming Female Gamers Video Games
• Living Latest Living Love and Sex Relationships Astrology Parenting Home The Powerhouse Unstoppable Class of 2023
• Advertise With Us
• Power Your Happy
• Privacy Policy
• ©2024 Val Morgan Digital
• Celebrity Latest Celebrity TV Reality TV Movies Books Music What to Stream on Amazon Prime This Summer
• Beauty Latest Beauty Celebrity Beauty Beauty News Beauty Trends Skin Care Makeup
• Health & Fitness Latest Health & Fitness Health Mental Health Wellness Uninhibited: The Fertility Edition Workouts
• Living Latest Living Relationships Astrology Parenting Home The Powerhouse Unstoppable Class of 2023
• Privacy Policy – POPSUGAR AND THRILLIST
• Terms of Use – POPSUGAR Australia and New Zealand

What Princess Diana and Prince Charles's 1983 Tour of Australia Looked Like in Real Life

Yes, little Prince William was there too.

Though the trip proved to be a diplomatic success, The Crown 's interpretation of the tour highlighted personal road bumps for Charles and Diana. He resented the public's adoration for her, while she was jealous of his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Diana also had to go through lengths to be able to bring a nine-month-old William with her and Charles abroad, rather than be apart from him for the six-week trip. Her decision, which raised the queen's eyebrows on the Netflix series, ultimately established a new precedent in the family. As we've seen with modern royals, Duchess Kate and Prince William went on tour with Prince George and Princess Charlotte, while Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry have taken their young son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, abroad as well.

Flip through the photos here to see how The Crown 's depiction of the events compare to the real thing. And see how well the show did re-creating some of Diana's most memorable looks from the voyage.

March 20, 1983

Princess Diana carries a baby Prince William as she and Prince Charles arrive at Alice Springs, Australia.

March 21, 1983

The couple visit Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, in Uluru National Park in Australia's Northwestern Territory.

Charles and Diana walk together at Uluru.

Charles and Diana meet schoolchildren in Alice Springs.

March 22, 1983

Diana boards a plane in a white blouse and blue skirt as she leaves Alice Springs.

March 25, 1983

Diana waves while she and Charles visit victims of bushfires.

Diana sports a baby-pink number with a matching feathered hat in Canberra, Australia.

March 30, 1983

Charles and Diana attend a reception in Hobart, Tasmania. She wears a red Bruce Oldfield dress with the Spencer family tiara.

Diana wears a blue, ruffled Bruce Oldfield dress while dancing with the Prince of Wales in Sydney.

While visiting Newcastle, Australia, with Charles, Diana wears a light pink dress by Catherine Walker and a hat by John Boyd.

Charles and Diana arrive in Hobart, Tasmania. The princess wears a Bellville Sassoon suit and John Boyd hat.

April 6, 1983

While driving through Memorial Oval in Port Pirie, Australia, Diana wears a Jan Van Velden suit and a John Boyd hat. Charles smiles at the crowd in a gray suit.

April 7, 1983

In one of her most iconic looks, a pink polka-dot ensemble by Donald Campbell and hat by John Boyd, the Princess of Wales greets fans in Perth, Australia.

Diana smiles at the crowds gathered in Perth.

April 8, 1983

The princess greets a well-wisher during a ride at the Hands Oval sportsground in Bunbury, Australia.

April 14, 1983

Diana wears a red polka-dot ensemble at the opening of the Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne.

April 17, 1983

Dressed in a blue hat and red printed dress, Diana waves goodbye as she and Charles board the plane to leave Melbourne.

April 18, 1983

The Princess of Wales greets a Maori woman at the Eden Park stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

April 20, 1983

Diana wears a dress designed by the Emanuels, who made her wedding gown, to a state banquet in New Zealand. She's joined by the prime minister of New Zealand, Robert Muldoon, and Charles.

Diana and Charles play with William on the gardens of the Government House.

Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now. 

All About The Crown: News, Spoilers, and Episode Recaps

What to Know About “The Crown” Season 6 Part 2

What Elizabeth Debicki Learned From Diana

Who Is Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi's Father?

How Did the Queen React to Diana’s Death?

How The Crown Swallowed the Royal Family

Meet Your New Kate Middleton

Comparing The Crown Actors to Will & Kate

The Crown ’s S6 Trailer Is All About Diana

Why Prince Philip's Title Wasn't King

Elizabeth Debicki on Making Princess Diana Her Own

Yes, The Crown's Tampongate Really Happened

• Celebrity News
• British Royal Family
• International Royals
• Sex & Relationships
• International News
• Competitions
• Homes To Love
• Home Beautiful
• Better Homes and Gardens
• Hard to Find
• Now to Love
• Now to Love NZ
• That's Life
• Women's Weekly
• Women's Weekly Food
• NZ Women's Weekly Food
• Gourmet Traveller
• Bounty Parents
• marie claire
• Beauty Heaven
• Beauty Crew

From the archives: See The Weekly’s covers featuring Prince Charles & Princess Diana during their first years of romance, as the new season of The Crown delves into their courtship

If you’re watching the new season of The Crown from Australia, you’ll likely be intrigued by one particular storyline.

Known for its accuracy in depicting real-life events, The Crown has quickly garnered a reputation as an (albeit dramatised) interpretation of the many milestone royal events that have occurred since Queen Elizabeth II took the throne in 1952.

After three whirlwind seasons, The Crown fans are now privy to a depiction of the royal family’s key moments from the 1980s – namely, the relationship between Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

It’s one of the most iconic romances of all time, and one that the world will forever be inquisitive about.

And in a big moment for Australia, their famous tour of the country in 1983 is set to bring a refreshed perspective on the globally renowned photo opportunities that it posed.

The Australian Women’s Weekly covered the early days of Charles and Diana’s courtship, which is set to be brought to life in the new season of The Crown .

As a show striving to make its narrative as realistic as possible , the production team behind The Crown approached the Australian Women’s Weekly to ask for permission to mock up covers of the magazine at the time the Australian tour took place.

If you watch closely, viewers will see copies of The Australian Women’s Weekly in a couple of shots (see the mock ups below) in the episode covering the tour.

The Weekly covers can be spotted in the latest season of The Crown .

The Crown producers called The Weekly to ask for permission to mock up some vintage covers of the magazine from the 1983 tour.

In comparison, this is an archived Australian Women’s Weekly cover featuring Charles and Diana a few years before their Australian tour.

What happened on Charles and Diana’s Australian tour?

The whirlwind Australian tour of Prince Charles and Princess Diana captured the world’s attention in a way no other royal tour had before.

Firstly, the month-and-a-half long journey marked the very first overseas royal tour Diana had ever made.

It was also Prince William’s first ever tour. He was nine-months-old at the time, and while it was standard practice at the time for royal babies to remain in the care of others at home, it is believed Diana simply didn’t want to part with him.

The new royal parents visited Uluru among other places during the milestone tour of Australia.

During the Australian tour, the royal couple visited Ayers Rock (which is now known as Uluru). They also attended multiple events in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Alice Springs and more.

Among their engagements were balls, school visits and many, many walkabouts.

And at 22, Diana had quickly established herself as a fashion icon – some of her most renowned style moments were front and centre during the tour, including her stunning pink Victor Edelstein gown and the Spencer Tiara which she wore in Brisbane.

Diana’s iconic pink Victor Edelstein dress was worn during her tour of Australia in 1983.

The tour was undoubtedly one of their most famous, and it’s easy to see why given the global attention the royal pair garnered.

Indeed, it set a precedent for modern royal tours – Duchess Catherine and Prince William have also opted to to bring their children along to overseas trips in the past, and last year, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan brought their baby son Archie on a tour to South Africa.

With this in mind, we’ll be watching The Crown ‘s portrayal of the visit with much interest – not least to keep our eyes peeled for that Weekly cover.

Royal doppelgängers: See The Crown’s season four cast next to their real life royal counterparts

Want more info on the crown’s new season check out the stories below.

Playing Princess Diana: The Crown’s Emma Corrin on why she thinks Diana never really stood a chance A fast approaching release date and new Aussie connections: The Crown’s remaining seasons are gearing up to be a wild ride Gird your crown jewels: New pics from the hotly anticipated fourth season of The Crown have dropped, and we’re in for a right royal spectacle The emotional story behind Prince Charles and Camilla Shand’s early (and doomed) relationship of the 1970s EXCLUSIVE: “It was daunting”: Jessica De Gouw talks joining The Crown and new drama The Secrets She Keeps

Jess Pullar

Related stories

Gird your crown jewels: New pics from the hotly anticipated fourth season of The Crown have dropped, and we’re in for a right royal spectacle

Native ad body.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 1983 Australia Tour Marked the Fracturing Of Their Relationship

The Crown accurately depicts the jealousy lurking beneath the surface of the royal couple.

The Crown launches into Dianamania with the sixth episode of Season Four, as it follows Prince Charles and Diana on their 1983 royal tour of Australia and New Zealand. They embarked on their first overseas tour as a couple with young Prince William in March, and as the Netflix series shows, the tour launched Diana into superstardom and solidified Charles’ resentment of her. Here's how the actual tour compares to Peter Morgan’s adaptation in the episode entitled “Terra Nullius.”

However, the 21-year-old new mother was having a difficult time, as shown in the show—she was "jet-lagged, anxious and sick with bulimia," wrote Andrew Morton of the tour. We see Diana turn back mid-hike at Ayers Rock in Episode Six to Charles’ dismay, which did really happen. However, this was likely because of her impractical front-buttoned white dress and heels, per the Sydney Morning Herald . “When Charles coaxed her to climb part of the way up the rock, she hesitated, not through fear of slipping, but because she knew that coming down would expose her knees and petticoat to the world’s press,” they wrote of the incident.

Still, the tour was likely as rocky for Charles and Diana’s relationship as The Crown depicts. There are accounts of Diana crying at a public appearance outside the Sydney Opera House, which a photographer who was present, Ken Lennox, described in the documentary Inside the Crown: Secrets of the Royals , per Vanity Fair :

I’m about four feet from the princess and I’m trying to get a bit of the opera house in the background and some of the crowd, and Diana burst into tears and wept for a couple of minutes. Charles I don’t think has noticed [Diana crying] at that stage. If he has, typical of Prince Charles to look the other way.

While the show accurately depicts some moments that the couple seemed to be genuinely in love, such as their dance at a charity ball in Sydney, Charles’s jealousy of the mad adoring crowds over Diana did in fact amplify the wedge between the couple.

“The prince was embarrassed the crowds so clearly favored her over him,” wrote Sally Bedell Smith . “For her part, Diana was upset by the disproportionate interest in her, especially when she realized that it was disturbing Charles. She collapsed under the strain, weeping to her lady-in-waiting and secretly succumbing to bulimia. In letters to friends, Charles described his anguish over the impact ‘all this obsessed and crazed attention was having on his wife.’”

Get Expert Style Advice, Every Day

In a 1995 interview with the BBC after their separation, Diana affirmed this herself. “We'd be going round Australia, for instance, and all you could hear was, ‘oh, she's on the other side.’ Now, if you're a man—like my husband—a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for four weeks. You feel low about it, instead of feeling happy and sharing it,” she recalled. “With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that.”

Charles and Diana’s royal tour did, however, have a powerful impact on the public opinion of the monarchy in Australia, as depicted in the episode. The popularity of the monarchy had been in decline in Australia in the '70s, and Republican Prime Minister Bob Hawke did not hide his stance that the country would be better off as an independent nation. While he may not have directly expressed this to Charles as he did in the episode, after the royal tour The Evening Standard stated that the public’s extreme fawning over Diana “ha[d] set Republicanism back 10 years.” And when, in 1999, the country held a referendum to vote on the possibility of becoming a republic, the people voted against it.

And the most crucial factual detail that The Crown snuck into the episode—Charles really did fall off that horse in the polo match.

@media(max-width: 73.75rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.4375rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.5625rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}} TV

Everything We Know About ‘Fallout’ Season 2

Kevin Costner Wants to Return to 'Yellowstone'

Kit Harington Updates Fans on Jon Snow’s Future

The Incredible Life of Mariko’s Shōgun Counterpart

‘Shōgun’ E8 Sets Up a Thrilling Home Stretch

The ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Finale Was Perfect

Get Ready for RDJ in ‘The Sympathizer’

'Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show' Episode 2 Recap

‘The Diplomat’ Season 2: Everything We Know

The True Story of ‘Scoop’

‘Shōgun’: The Battle of Sekigahara’s True Story

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

'The Crown' : How Princess Diana and Prince Charles' Australia Tour Predicted Their Doomed Marriage

Princess Diana and Prince Charles first overseas trip help launch the new princess into international stardom — and prompted Prince Charles' jealousy

Stephanie Petit is a Royals Editor, Writer and Reporter at PEOPLE.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles ' first overseas trip help launch the new princess into international stardom — and prompted Prince Charles' jealousy over his wife's popularity.

Season four of The Crown , now streaming on Netflix, tackles the couple's 1983 tour of Australia in the episode "Terra Nullius" — and the importance of keeping the country in the Commonwealth.

Tensions between Diana (played by Emma Corrin) and Charles (Josh O'Connor) began before the plane even touched down, according to the royal drama. Prince William , then just 9 months old, became the first royal baby to accompany his parents on a royal tour (a tradition since followed by William and Kate Middleton as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with their own children .) In the show, it was Princess Diana who insisted they bring their son along — "no baby, no me."

The move to travel with their son warmed the hearts of Australians. "Bringing William was what made it really different. There was a huge amount made of Diana being a breath of fresh air and [so] modern. It was enormous," said Jane Connors, author of Royal Visits to Australia .

Early in the arduous six-week tour, Princess Diana — already battling bulimia — was portrayed in The Crown as weak from the Australian heat and jet lag. During a scene at Uluru, she leaves Charles to climb Ayers Rock without her after saying she felt "dizzy." However, she bounces back as the tour continues, dazzling all who see and meet her.

At first, the Prince of Wales is pleased by his wife's efforts and approval by the large crowds who came to see them — but it's not long before he begins to feel like second fiddle.

During a speech, Prince Charles talks about how "lucky" he is to have Diana as a wife, only for Princess Diana to make a face and draw laughs from the crowd. "That's the thing about ladies: you never quite know what they get up to when your back's turned," he remarks.

The Crown shows the couple getting into a fight over Charles' embarrassment.

"This was supposed to be my tour! My tour as Prince of Wales to shore up a key country in the Commonwealth at a very delicate moment politically," O'Connor’s Charles erupts at Corrin's Diana. "Thanks to you, people are laughing in my face."

Can't get enough of PEOPLE 's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton , Meghan Markle and more!

The real-life Princess Diana spoke about upstaging her husband and his jealousy during her famous 1995 interview with BBC1's Panorama.

"We'd be going 'round Australia, for instance, and all you could hear was, 'Oh, she's on the other side.' Now, if you're a man — like my husband — a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for four weeks. You feel low about it, instead of feeling happy and sharing it," she said.

Host Martin Bashir clarified that the public was expressing a "preference" for Diana over her husband.

"Yes, which I felt very uncomfortable with, and I felt it was unfair because I wanted to share," she said.

Diana added, "With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that."

Related Articles

Tourists get more access to royal family residences with 'exclusive tours' of Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle

Rooms at Balmoral Castle and Buckingham Palace that were previously off limits will be opened to the public for the first time, giving visitors a sneak peek into royal life.

The royal residences were open to tourists before, but now visitors will be able to see even more of the historical locations and take "exclusive tours" with special guides. 

However, it comes at a price.

Tickets for what's called "The Balmoral Experience" cost 100 pounds ($192).

Significant royal residences

Scotland's Balmoral Castle was thought to be Queen Elizabeth II's favourite residence, with the late monarch spending her final days there before her death in 2022.

It was something of a retreat for the late monarch, who spent almost every summer of her life at the estate. 

"I suppose Balmoral is a place one looks forward to very much," she said in 1992.

"I think granny is the most happy here. I think she really, really loves the Highlands," her granddaughter, Princess Eugenie said in 2012.

Buckingham Palace is in central London and is an administrative hub for the royal family. 

Its balcony is a centrepiece for mayor royal events, with the royals typically gathering there to wave to crowds below. 

Balmoral interior opened for the first time

Before now, access to Balmoral Castle was pretty much restricted to the grounds and the ballroom.

But a series of limited tours will give visitors a more intimate look at Queen Elizabeth's summer home later this year. 

Here's how the Balmoral website describes it :

"For the first time since the castle was completed in 1855, we have been granted permission to take you on a private tour with our experienced guides. "They will take you on a historical journey through several of the beautiful rooms within Balmoral Castle. "You will learn about the origins of the Castle and how it has been loved by generations of the Royal family. Travel through time from the purchase of the Balmoral by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, through to present day, where you can see how rooms within the castle are used today by their Majesties The King and Queen and other members of the royal family."

The tours are limited to 40 people per day and will only run in July and August. 

Tickets cost 100 pounds, with an extra 50 pounds for afternoon tea. 

Balmoral tickets sell out in a day

Within a day after local media reported the new tour, all tickets have sold out , according to the Balmoral Castle website.

On Wednesday, the website was briefly brought down by demand.

"As we are currently experiencing a high demand of bookings, you have been placed in a queue," the website read.

General admission tickets, which covers entry to the grounds, gardens, and exhibitions are still available.

More access to Buckingham Palace

Before this announcement, the public could tour 19 state rooms at Buckingham Palace.

But the East Wing — a section of Buckingham Palace which includes the front facade and the famous balcony — has been off limits. 

In July and August, "expert guides" will lead small tourist groups through the wing.

It will lead people to a room that leads onto the balcony, according to Royal Collections Trust website .

But it doesn't say if tourists will be able to go out on the balcony.

Adults will have to be pay an extra 75 pounds on top of the standard admission ticket to the state rooms — so it will cost at least 107 pounds. 

There are limited tickets available for these tours, which haven't gone on sale yet. 

• X (formerly Twitter)

Related Stories

'i think granny is the most happy there': why the queen always loved balmoral.

From giving the King's speech to handing out Maundy Money this is how Camilla is stepping up

'Doesn't sound like a good idea': The king's sister warned of a princess shortage long before Kate fell ill

• United Kingdom