Sociologist Finds Inconsistencies In Photographs Of Prince Charles And Princess Diana

Jan 05, 2021 by apost team

The human mind and eyes can be quite deceptive — even ignorant. This is especially true when you know something to be correct but are unwilling to see it in some other way. In these instances, it's easy to ignore the quite obvious inadequacies or inaccuracies you should see no matter how many times you face them. In March 2017, sociologist Philip N. Cohen proved this to be true when he tweeted several professional photos of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, pointing out an inaccuracy many people may have learned to accept overtime. Why does Prince Charles look taller than Princess Diana in the photos? In this article, we find out the answer.

Diana Frances Spencer was born into the noble Spencer family, which has been closely allied with the British Crown for generations. However, she rose even closer to the royal throne in 1981, when she got engaged to Queen Elizabeth's first son, Prince Charles. They got married in a lavish wedding later that year, and thus she became known as the Princess of Wales. The two made an enchantingly beautiful couple and were a global sensation at the time. With time, rumors and gossip surrounding their relationship made them seem incompatible over the years. One thing that stood out from the beginning was beyond Princess Diana's control: her height.

According to many reliable sources, the Princess of Wales was 5 feet 10 inches (or 1.78 meters) tall, making her much taller than the average British woman, who is about 5 feet 3 inches. It also makes her arguably the same height as her husband, Prince Charles, and explains where her sons Prince William and Prince Harry, who stand at 6 feet 3 inches and 6 feet 1 inch, respectively, got their tall genes.

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Two separate tweets by user Philip Cohen point out that the Prince of Wales appeared about a foot taller in all their formal photographs, something that is widely known is not accurate since the two were virtually the same height. The tweets evoked retweets galore, and comments from royal fans who speculated this was done deliberately, and many others were as surprised. 

The story becomes stranger upon realizing that when the photos were not staged in many instances, the couple seemed to be of equal height. Cohen, who has been following up this scandal for many years, admits in a blog post, "The funny thing about resurrecting a 36-year-old scandal is it seems that, among those interested, half nod knowingly and say, 'That always annoyed me!' and the other half say, 'mind blown.'"

The first photo that Cohen posted was a post office stamp that depicted Prince Charles to be about a foot taller than his then-wife. His caption, "They were the same height," was loud and clear, and it's not a surprise that it sparked a heated debate. Cohen followed up this first tweet with a second and more controversial one that put together more of their staged photos, proving something was going on.

He goes further to clarify his opinion with the blog post. He says that although the biometric data on how tall these royals were can never be fully trusted, the statement made by Buckingham Palace after questions on the stamp were raised offers some insight.

"The portrait shows the tip of Lady Diana's head barely reaching up to the Prince's chin, making him appear virtually a head taller," read the statement in The New York Times Stamps column. "It is a fact that Prince Charles is 5 feet 11 inches and Lady Diana is 5 feet 10 inches, and normally she would reach the top of his head rather the tip of his chin," continued the statement.

According to Cohen, Prince Charles stood on a box to conceal their height difference in the stamp photo. The statement also reveals that the efforts were deliberate and necessary to preserve the space above Princess Diana's head for Queen Elizabeth II's traditional silhouette. According to many critics, other tactics were employed to conceal this height difference entirely. In other instances, Princess Diana can be seen leaning or tilting her head in a way that made her look smaller than her husband, while other times, she slumped or slouched so that her husband would tower above her. When they took shots while sitting, she sat on a lower ground while Prince Charles sat higher to make him look taller.

This was also clear from their engagement photo, taken outside Windsor Castle, in which the Prince stood a step higher than his fiancée. A few of their wedding photos that made it to the public before official release showed the two to be of similar height, but that was not the case when the official photos were released. According to Marie Claire, Princess Diana rarely wore high heels to disguise further that the two were almost of equal height.

It is not officially clear if the disguises were accidental or intentional. However, per the same statement alluded to earlier, "Newsmen who had seen the royal couple in public on a number of occasions were baffled because the royal couple they had seen were virtually of equal height." This was evident in several candid photos of them, the most memorable being a photo of them with their newborn son, Prince William, outside the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital, London. Other candid photos that prove the Prince was not taller include: when they were leaving their wedding rehearsal, after the birth of their second child, during public gatherings, and when playing with their sons. Despite the nearly indisputable fact that the former couple was of equal height, it is apparent that some efforts were made to hide this detail. The Society Pages reports that these efforts were geared towards conforming to the old tradition that men are supposed to be taller than their spouses. Lisa Wade confirms this by explaining, 

"This effort to make Charles appear taller is a social commitment to the idea that men are taller and women are shorter. When our bodies, and our chosen mates, don't follow this rule, sometimes we'll go to great lengths to preserve the illusion." 

She added, "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."

It is also suspected that it was a way to emasculate the Prince of Wales, who is just a bit taller than the average English man. The Prince stands slightly shorter than his father, Prince Philip, who is about 6 feet tall like his two grandsons Harry and William. Charles is reportedly the shortest among his brothers and almost the same height as his only sister, Princess Anne.

In his textbook, The Family, Cohen also notes, "The taller husband conjures up images of the protective, dominant man ('Let me reach that for you') with a nurturing, supportive wife ('Can I fix you a sandwich?')." He continues to say, "The idea of women as the weaker sex corresponds to the pattern of male domination in modern society, as symbolized by the muscular male athlete and the taller husband." These are sentiments that sit differently with various people, and it depends on how and from where you look at it.

The other reason may be the fact that most of Princess Diana's predecessors were shorter than her. These include Queen Victoria, who was only 5 feet tall, Queen Elizabeth I stood at 5 feet 4 inches, and Queen Elizabeth II is about 5 feet 4 inches as well –– are all pretty close to the average British woman's height. In later years, women as tall as teh late "People's Princess" have joined the royal family as well. Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, stands at 5 feet 9 inches – just three inches less than her husband – While Meghan Markel, Prince Harry's wife, is 5 feet 6 inches tall.

There are many things that royal fans will never really figure out, and this just might be one of those things. While it is better as water under the bridge, this is a realization you will never unsee. What's more, this phenomenon is also evident in modern-day society, and nobody really knows whether to call it out or confirm. If you follow the replies to Cohen's first tweet, you will find all manner of responses that may or may not shed more light on this social dilemma. Unfortunately, this will remain to be one of the many royal secrets that will never be debunked. For some unknown reason, it is among the few things that Princess Diana did not openly express her dissatisfaction with despite calling out many royal protocols and subjective rules.

The couple differed in many aspects, which lead up to their messy divorce in 1992. It's clear that nothing would make things better for the couple, not even their one remarkable similarity. Theirs was a love story that ended tragically despite the many deliberate efforts to hold them together. Not even their perfectly staged photos that displayed a loving and romantic couple with a perfect height difference could keep them together.

Do you think the height difference in Princess Diana and Prince Charles' photos were deliberate? Let us know in the comments, and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!