Princess Diana Had a Clever Two-Word Nickname for Charles When They First Began Dating

The late Princess Diana won the hearts of millions, but sadly, not of her ex-husband, then-Prince Charles. Though their marriage is remembered for its many ups and downs, an unusual nickname from their early courtship hints that things weren’t always so strained. During their pre-engagement days, Diana affectionately referred to Charles as ‘Charles Renfrew.’

Diana and Charles began dating in 1980 and were married after meeting just 13 times. Though she was deeply smitten with Charles, she wanted to keep the identity of the man she was seeing under wraps until things were official. As reported by OK! magazine, Diana allegedly told people she was seeing a man named ‘Charles Renfrew’ when asked about her mystery boyfriend. The name came from the Baron of Renfrew title, one of the many styles granted to the Prince of Wales by Queen Elizabeth. So Diana cleverly used one of Charles' subsidiary titles to create the two-word nickname.

The reports of Diana addressing Charles with the unusual name were first brought to light by Washington Post columnist Henry Mitchell. As reported by the Scottish Daily Express, Mitchell penned, “When Prince Charles was courting Diana Spencer, for example, Lady Diana told people her friend was Charles Renfrew, which was halfway true to some extent, since that is one of his names, and it caused less commotion than if she had said, more straightforwardly, that her friend was Prince of Wales.” The outlet revealed that the royal title was also earlier used by both Edward VI and Edward VIII while traveling incognito when they were waiting for the throne to become vacant.

Interestingly, Diana, during their initial courtship, wasn't allowed to address Charles directly by his first name. As reported by The Sun, she alluded to the fact on one of her tapes given to Andrew Morton. She said on the tapes that she had to call Charles ‘Sir’ and was only allowed to use his first name after they married. In the documentary The Royal Wives of Windsor, Morton said, “On paper, Diana was absolutely perfect as a royal bride. All of these things seemed to be important at this time. Everyone was acting in what they perceived to be the best interests of the institutions, but it was doomed. It was not a fairytale, it was a nightmare.”

Despite Princess Diana’s sweet nickname for King Charles, she got no chummy names in return from him. Instead, he named his then-mistress and now-wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, as ‘Gladys.’ Reportedly, King Charles and Queen Camilla use the nicknames ‘Fred’ and ‘Gladys’ for each other, inspired by characters from the BBC radio comedy show The Goon Show. Unsurprisingly, the late Princess Diana had cruel nicknames for her husband's mistress after her divorce. Her friend Simon Simmons explained that she dubbed Camilla ‘The Rottweiler’ because once she sunk 'her teeth into someone,' Camilla never 'let go. '