The late Princess Diana reportedly shocked members of the royal family – including the Queen and Prince Charles – with a remark she made as they sat down for Christmas dinner

Princess Diana had a strained relationship with the royal family and on one occasion she left senior members completely stunned with a remark she made during Christmas dinner, according to one expert.

Diana was 20 when she married then-Prince Charles in 1981. The couple separated in 1992, having welcomed Prince William and Prince Harry before going on to finally divorce in 1996. It was widely reported that Diana struggled to find her place within the monarchy – as made evident by her comment during the festive celebration.

Writing in his book ‘Diana: Her True Story’, Andrew Morton claimed that Diana raised the question as to whether the royals would remain pertinent in a federal Europe, leaving her fellow diners shocked. “The Queen, Prince Charles and the rest of the royal family looked at her as if she were mad and continued with their debate on who shot the last pheasant of the day, a discussion which occupied the rest of the evening,” Morton wrote.

Princess Diana shocked senior royals with her remark during Christmas dinner (Image: Getty)

“As a friend says ‘she finds the monarchy claustrophobic and completely outdated with no relevance to today’s life and problems. She feels that it is a crumbling institution and believes that the family won’t know what has hit it in a few years’ time unless it changes too.'” The union between Diana and Charles is largely remembered as being tumultuous and destructive. But there was a period of time when the couple were happy – and surprisingly Diana spoke fondly about it shortly before she died.

Just a few weeks before she was tragically killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, and when she was in a relationship with Dodi Fayed, Diana spoke to royal biographer Ingrid Seward about her wish for her sons and the public to see the love letters Charles had sent her in the early days of their romance. According to The Times , Seward told the Oldie magazine’s literary lunch about her conversation she had with Prince William and Harry’s mother in which she fondly remembered the early days of her marriage.

“Diana told me very shortly before she died that she wished people could see the love letters that she had from Charles,” Ingrid said. “She really wanted people to know that she loved Charles and he loved her. And I always remembered that. And she wanted the boys [Princes William and Harry] to know that. There was a period of great love between them.”