Although neither or them remembered the occasion, Diana first met her future husband when she was just a baby. It happened during the winter of 1961, when twelve-year-old Charles, Prince of Wales, was visiting his mother’s Sandringham retreat.

At the time, your Prince Charles barely glanced at the tiny baby sleeping in her cot. After all, bow could a twelve-year-old boy be interested in babies?

But the Prince would eventually take a very keen interest in this particular baby —it would just take some time.

In fact, it would be sixteen years before Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer took place in the middle of a farmer’s field during a shooting party in November 1977.

It was a cold, rainy, bleak¹ afternoon when sixteen-year-old Diana, dressed in a borrowed parka that was too large for her, boots, and blue jeans, crossed the field to meet the heir to the British throne.

It was almost twilight² when the two came face to face near Nobottle Woods.

“What a sad man,” Diana thought when she first saw him. The future Princess was intrigued³ to finally meet the most eligible⁴ bachelor in England, thought she was not impressed with his five-foot-ten-inch height, thinking to herself that she would tower over him in high heels. But Diana would later say that she admired his beautiful blue eyes.

The Prince later remarked that he thought Diana was “a very jolly and attractive” girl, “full of fun,” though Diana herself believed that “he barely noticed me at all.”

Diana, it was discovered later, first came to the attention of the royal family when she acted as a bridesmaid for her sister Jane’s wedding that April. It was the first major social occasion that Diana attended as a young woman. And many of the royals were surprised at how beautiful and mature the once-gawky girl had become.

Even the Queen Mother. Prince Charles’s grandmother, noticed Diana’s beauty, grace, and charm. She complimented the Earl on the fine job he had done in bringing Diana up.

A short time later, Prince Charles sent his valet to hand-deliver a formal invitation for Diana to accompany him that very evening to the opera and a latenight dinner at the palace.

Though she was flustered⁵, and the invitation came at such short notice, Diana accepted. She and her roommate, Carolyn Bartholomew, hurried to dress and prepare Diana for her big date. The evening was a success, and an invitation to party on the royal yacht came soon after……

Although she was intimidated⁶ by the crowd at Balmoral, Diana was wise enough not to stay in the castle itself . She asked for, and was granted, an invitation to stay with her sister Jane and her young husband at their cottage on the Balmoral estate.

The Prince visited Diana there every day, offering to escort her to a barbecue, or extending an invitation for a long walk in the woods.

When Charles went to Switzerland for a ski vacation, Diana missed him terribly. He called her after a day or two, and told Diana he had something important to ask her.

He arrived home on February, 3, 1981.Three days later, he arranged to see Diana at Windsor Castle. Late that evening, while Prince Charles was showing Diana the nursery, he asked her to marry him.

To his surprise, Diana treated his proposal as a joke, She actually giggled⁷. But soon she could see that Prince Charles was serious. Despite an insistent⁸ voice inside her head that told her she would never be Queen, she accepted his proposal.

Diana told Prince Charles over and over that she loved him.

“Whatever love means.” Was his reply.

尽管两人已记不清那段往事，可当黛安娜头一次见到她未来的丈夫时，还只是个孩子。那是在1961年的冬天，当时年仅十二岁的威尔士王储查尔斯正呆在夏丁汉他母亲的休养所。

那时，年轻的查尔斯王子几乎看都没看那个睡在童床里的小不点儿。毕竟，十二岁的孩子怎么会对婴儿感兴趣呢？

然而，这位王子最终就是对这个婴孩产生了强烈的兴趣—只不过那是后来的事了。

实际上，查尔斯王子与黛安娜·斯宾塞女士再次相遇已是十六年后了。那次邂逅是在1977年11月的一次乡村狩猎会途中。

那是一个阴雨绵绵，寒风刺骨的下午，十六岁的黛安娜，身穿借来的一件过大的毛皮风雪大衣，足登长靴，下身是一件蓝色牛仔裤。她正经过这片狩猎场朝着这位英国王位继承人走来。

接近黄昏时分，二人在诺布托树木附近迎面相遇。

当黛安娜第一眼看到王子时，心里想：“一个多么忧郁的人。”尽管黛安娜对于他五英尺十英寸的身高并不心为然，觉得要是她穿着高跟鞋肯定会高过他，但这位未来的王妃还是期盼与英国最令人中意的单身汉见面。可是黛安娜后来说她很羡慕王子那双迷人的蓝色眼睛。

虽然黛安娜自己认为“他根本没注意过我”，但王子后来说道，他觉得黛安娜是个“快乐而迷人的”姑娘，“很有趣。”

人们后来发现，黛安娜第一次引起皇室的注意是在那年四月她姐姐简的婚礼上，当时她是伴娘。这是她成年后参加的第一个大型社交活动，许多皇室成员对这个当初还是个粗笨难看的丫头，现如今却出落成如此成熟美丽的女人颇感惊讶。

就连查尔斯王子的祖母王后陛下都注意到了黛安娜的美丽、端庄和迷人。她称赞伯爵对黛安娜的精心培养。

不久之后，查尔斯王子派随从亲手送给她一张正式的请柬，邀请黛安娜当晚陪伴他去看歌剧并出席午夜的宫廷晚宴。

尽管黛安娜感到局促不安，且请柬来得太匆忙，可她还是接受了。她与她的室友卡洛琳·巴赛洛缪，匆匆忙忙地梳洗打扮并为黛安娜做好了去赴这个重大约会的准备。当晚非常尽兴，不久邀请她参加皇家游艇聚会的请柬又接踵而至……..

虽然黛安娜对于拜尔马洛的众王族感到有些害怕，可她十分明智没有前往城堡。她提出请求，并得到批准，邀请她住在姐姐简和简的年轻丈夫在拜尔马洛的别墅中。

王子每天都去那里拜访她，要么提出陪她参加户外烤肉宴，要么邀请她去树林中进行长时间散步。

当查尔斯去瑞士作滑雪旅行时，黛安娜对他朝思暮想。查尔斯到那里一两天后就打电话给她，告诉黛安娜他回英格兰后，要问她一些重要的事情。

1981年2月3日他回来了。三天后，他安排在温莎堡见黛安娜。那天晚上，当查尔斯王子陪黛安娜参观育婴室的时候，他向她求婚。

令王子惊讶的是，黛安娜把他的求婚当作了一个玩笑。她咯咯地笑起来。但不久后她看得出查尔斯王子是认真的。尽管她的脑海中一直有个声音告诫她不要想着去当王妃，可她还是接受了王子的请求。

黛安娜一遍又一遍地对王子说她爱他。

“爱就是一切，”王子答道。