It was on another royal tour a decade after their first when Charles and Diana, far from enchanting the public, were barely able to disguise the fact that their marriage was falling apart.
The Mirror’s royal correspondent James Whitaker reported from Seoul in November 1992: “Their eyes never met. There was no physical contact. It was as if they were two strangers.”
He went on: “They arrived in Korea with orders to present the image of a loving couple. Instead, stony-faced, they ignored each other, not even exchanging a look.”
Yet just a week after the trip, Diana looked happy and relaxed again on an official solo visit to France, when she delighted the crowds and had an audience with President Mitterrand.
Weeks later, on December 9, their separation was announced by John Major in the Commons.
Their marriage had been in trouble since the birth of Harry in 1984, reaching a low point two years later, when Charles later said their relationship had “irretrievably broken down”.
Charles rekindled his relationship with former girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles, while Diana sought solace with Captain James Hewitt, who had been her riding instructor.
Diana also revealed her struggles with bulimia and depression, as well as attempts at suicide in a biography by Andrew Morton, written with her cooperation.
There was more embarrassment for the royals when, in June 1994, Charles admitted to adultery in an interview.
The day it aired, Diana stepped out in a striking black dress which became known as the “revenge dress”.
In November the following year Diana gave her own, even more explosive interview, watched by 23 million Britons, when she famously said: “I’d like to be a queen of people’s hearts, in people’s hearts, but I don’t see myself being the Queen of this country.”
Following their divorce in July 1996, the couple agreed to split custody of their sons, while Diana was stripped of her HRH title.
She also received a lump sum of £17million, as well as £400,000 per year and her rights to live in Kensington Palace, but she refused her royal police protection, saying she wanted to live a more normal life.
But Diana did not lose her star factor, and she remained one of the most famous – and photographed – people in the world as she found a new role as a humanitarian, using her position to bring attention to charitable causes.
She also found love again, falling for cardiac surgeon Hasnat Khan, who has been described as Diana’s greatest love.
Through him, she began to experience some of the normality she craved.
Clearly serious about the relationship, she travelled to Pakistan to meet Hasnat’s family, but her lover was devoted to his medical career and their relationship ended in early summer 1997.
By then Diana had thrown herself into her charity work, famously walking through a minefield in Angola and meeting President Nelson Mandela in South Africa to raise awareness of HIV/AIDs.
Finally on the other side of her bitter divorce, free from the shackles of royalty and embarking on a new romance with Dodi Al Fayed, many believed Diana’s influence and achievements would eclipse anything that had gone before.
Tragically, we would never get to find out. Just weeks later, on August 31, 1997, the world was plunged into shock and grief at a life taken far too soon.
