Hundreds of photos of Princess Diana and Prince Charles were taken over the years, but royal fans have noticed something interesting about the official snaps.
- A resurfaced viral tweet from 2017 has pointed out something strange about official photos of Princess Diana and Prince Charles.
- It’s not officially known whether this notable aspect of the famous royal couple was intentional or not.
- In other royal news, a sweet sign that Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are healing their relationship has been revealed.
Princess Diana married Prince Charles in 1981, but they separated in 1992, later divorcing in 1996.
Naturally, there were plenty of official and professional photographs taken of the royal couple over the years, from their engagement announcement outside Buckingham Palace to the birth of their sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
But a viral tweet has highlighted that the Prince of Wales always appeared taller in these images—despite the fact that he and Diana were both the same height at 5ft 10in, or 1.78m.
The commemorative stamp shown in the below tweet is particularly good example, as Princess Diana appears to be almost a head shorter than Prince Charles.
They were the same height pic.twitter.com/I9YVAcU4hnMarch 18, 2017
Unsurprisingly many Twitter users were quick to comment on this. One noted, "That's why she always tilted her head down. She also wore flats or very short heels."
Others suggested that Prince Charles may have been "standing on a box" in the photos to give people the illusion that he was significantly taller than his wife.
However, Princess Diana and Prince Charles were definitely the same height, as confirmed by public appearances of the couple taken outside of an official setting.
When they stood on the hospital steps after the birth of Prince William, for example, you can clearly see that they’re around the same height, which makes people wonder why this was an issue in the first place.
According to an article on The Society Pages, it may have something to do with the (very dated) societal expectation that men should be taller than women.
Lisa Wade PhD, a professor at Occidental College, suggested, "When Charles and Diana were posed together formally, however, they were typically arranged so as to suggest that he was significantly taller than her, or at least to disguise the fact that he was not.
"This effort to make Charles appear taller is a social commitment to the idea that men are taller and women shorter. When our own bodies, and our chosen mates, don’t follow this rule, sometimes we’ll go to great lengths to preserve the illusion."
So while this hasn't been confirmed as the official reason, it could serve as an explanation as to why there was often a significant height difference between the two in official photographs.