Just before Prince Charles announced his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, a little-known fact is that she escaped to Australia under a cloak of secrecy to decide if she really wanted to become a future queen.
According to Aussie royal expert Judy Wade – a regular contributor to Woman’s Day who recently sadly passed away – Diana took up residence at her mum Frances Shand Kydd’s secret Mollymook beach house, where she spent time over the new year surfing, swimming and soul-searching alone in complete anonymity.
“Frances rented a beach house tucked away among tall gum trees overlooking the beach,” Judy wrote in her 2007 book Diana: The Intimate Portrait, describing the dwelling as a “modern, dark-stained timber beach house… situated at the end of a winding dirt track, which made it invisible from the road”.
Judy wrote that Frances – who when she was alive had a cattle property in nearby Yass – would “enjoy a cool drink on the wooden, elevated deck facing the sea” with her daughter as they “discussed the enormity of Prince Charles’ proposal and the impact on all their lives”.
As the backlash against Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan continues to mount, sources say he is now considering finding the very same beach house and turning it into his own hideaway from the world.
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Prince Harry is considering finding the same NSW beach house his mum stayed at in the 1980s.
(Getty)Aussie calling
“Harry has a soft spot for Australia and given that his mum spent such precious private time here, it’s no surprise he’d feel a calling to it and will want to search out what sounds like was once his mum’s spiritual home,” says a source.
“Meghan was very shocked at first – and she wasn’t impressed that he went behind her back and did it – but she too would love to get her hands on something that was Diana’s… even if it makes William furious!”
