In Newly Unearthed Letter, King Charles Describes an “Unbearable Emptiness” in the Wake of Princess Diana’s Death

A newly discovered letter written by then-Prince Charles in the wake of Princess Diana's death is uncovering how the royal truly felt shortly after his children's mom's passing.

According to The Daily Mail, now-King Charles wrote a letter to Peter Houghton in 1997, describing what he called an "unbearable emptiness" following the former Princess of Wales' untimely death.

The letter, which recently sold at auction for $2,000, described King Charles' “bewilderment and confusion that accompanies the removal of someone so young from the world."

Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997 after a horrific car crash in Paris, France. The young mother of two was just 36 years old at the time of her passing.

At the time the letter was written, Houghton was also enduring an unbearable loss, to which then-Prince Charles referred to in the letter and seemed to better understand in the wake of Princess Diana's death.

King Charles wrote that his heart "bleeds" for his friend, who lost "dear Liz" to an unspecified illness. The royal added that he can now imagine the "agony" his friend was feeling, and as a result "longed to wave a magic wand to transform the situation."

The monarch went on to describe his Christian faith and how it has informed what he believes happens to someone after they pass away. He went so far as to quote a passage from the Bible, stating that "now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face."

"This lengthly handwritten letter to 'Peter' expresses his sympathy upon the death of a loved one," a spokesperson for RR Auction told The Daily Mail. "Charles was likely particularly emotional at the time he wrote the letter, as Princess Diana had tragically passed away just a few months before in August 1997."

Three three-page handwritten letter was dated December 8, 1997, with instructions for it to be delivered by hand.

In the 2020 documentary The Queen and Prince Charles: Mother and Son, royal commentator Lady Julie Montagu said that Princess Diana's death changed the monarch's role within the royal family.

"He really stepped up in that parenting role when he needed to," Montagu said at the time. "We can see that in the hugging, the laughing, the cuddling that she did. After her death, it changes completely."

Prince Harry—who was just 12 at the time of his mother's passing—said in the documentary, Diana, 7 Days, that "one of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died."

"How do you deal with that, I don't know," he continued at the time. "(Our dad) was there for us—he was the one out of two left, and he tried to do his best and to make sure that we were protected and looked after. But he was going through the same grieving process as well."