A lesser-known detail about the world-famous Princess Diana is that she had a stepmother and they didn't get along — an aspect that only adds to her storybook life.
A lesser-known detail about the world-famous Princess Diana is that she had a stepmother and they didn't get along — an aspect that only adds to her storybook life.
Diana was just 15 when her father, Earl John Spencer, married Raine McCorquodale following her parents' divorce. The complicated relationship between the future princess and her stepmother is chronicled in the new Smithsonian Channel documentary "Princess Diana's 'Wicked' Stepmother."
"Diana was vulnerable and hurting and she didn't like this woman stepping into her mother's shoes," said Paul Burrell, Diana's former butler and her close confidante.
Raine added to the tension when she moved into the Spencer's country home that had been in the family for hundreds of years. Raine went forward and redecorated the place. Burrell said she spent a lot of money doing it.
However, Diana eventually came to understand Raine in a different way — when her own marriage to Prince Charles crumbled and she became a divorcee.
"In the end of course Diana was an outcast and Raine was an outcast as well. And so they came together in the end and became great friends," Burrell said.
"Princess Diana's 'Wicked' Stepmother" airs Monday on the Smithsonian Channel at 8 p.m. ET.
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