| Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | John Power[1] |
| Screenplay by | Nancy Sackett[1] |
| Based on | the breakdown of the royal marriage |
| Produced by | Nick Gillott[1] |
| Starring | Catherine Oxenberg Roger Rees Jane How[1] |
| Cinematography | Alan Doberman[1] |
| Edited by | Tod Feuerman[1] |
| Music by | James McVay Lennie Moore |
Production company | Konigsberg-Sanitsky Productions[1] |
| Distributed by | ABC[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes[2] |
| Countries | United States / Canada Made on location in England and Scotland[1] |
| Language | English |
Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After is adramatic television movie of 1992 telling the real-life story of the failed marriage ofCharles, Prince of Wales, and his first wife,Diana, Princess of Wales.
Directed byJohn Power and released in December 1992, the film starsCatherine Oxenberg as Diana,Roger Rees as Charles, andJane How asCamilla Parker Bowles.
The film was released on DVD in November 2004.[3] One issue of it was retitledCharles & Diana: A Palace Divided.
The film followed on the heels of revelations published in May 1992 inAndrew Morton's bookDiana: Her True Story.[4] The executive producers wereFrank Konigsberg and Larry Sanitsky, who had previously worked together onSurviving: A Family in Crisis (1985) andAct of Vengeance (1986). They went on to produceOldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1994) andTitanic (1996) together.[5]
Oxenberg, who played Diana, is a daughter ofPrincess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and a third cousin of Charles.[6] She had played the part of Diana once before, inThe Royal Romance of Charles and Diana (1982).[7]
Oxenberg commented on playing Diana again:
"Diana's life has changed so much since her marriage it was like playing another person. There's so much more information about her now. The character I played the first time was quite one-dimensional, the fantasy of a young girl falling in love with a prince. There was no emotional or psychological drama or struggle or anything. It was what it was. This new film has a lot of levels, dimensions and textures. It's more human."[8]
Gladys Crosbie was also repeating her part, having playedQueen Elizabeth The Queen Mother inBritannia Hospital (1982), and was considered to be a "dead ringer" for Her Majesty.[9]
ABC's first airing of the film on US television was on 13 December 1992,[1] and was well-timed, coming four days after British prime ministerJohn Major had announced in theHouse of Commons the "amicable separation" of Charles and Diana.[4][10]
The film begins in the early days of the marriage of Charles and Diana, when they appear to be fond of each other and even in love. However, early scenes show them to have very different characters and interests. Charles is shown as intellectual and fastidious, a lover of opera, whereas Diana wants romance and is bored by opera. Also, the spectre of Charles's former mistress Camilla Parker Bowles intrudes into the marriage from the beginning. Within two months of their wedding, Diana accuses Charles to his face of being in love with Camilla. A series of tribulations and infidelities is eventually shared with the world through newspaper reports. The couple ends up estranged and indifferent to each other, but still connected through two young sons,William, now aged ten, andHarry, eight.
Variety found the film "good-looking but unsatisfying" and commented that the fractured relationship of Charles and Diana was "punctuated by moments so melodramatic they would makeBarbara Cartland groan". It considered that Rees had failed to convey Charles's eccentricity and that Oxenberg's Diana was too constantly about to snap, lacking Diana's earlier girlishness and her later elegance.[1]