Prince Charles. Princess Diana marriage had 'very corrosive effect' on royal staff

Prince Charles and Princess Diana  marriage problems caused distress to the royal staff.

The staff, who had to conceal the 'big secret' of the couple's marital issues and infidelity, had to pretend everything was smooth for appearances, reveals a former employee.

Diana's private secretary Patrick Jephson admits: "As went through a period of, I suppose, real unhappiness when the Prince and Princess were publicly still together, but privately we knew they were apart.

"There was a very very stressful period leading up to the public announcement of the fact that they were going to separate, that was in 1992."

He added: "So, you can imagine, if you've ever worked in an organisation where you are concealing some big secret, it has a very corrosive effect.

"It's not good for morale."

"Even though the news of the separation of the Prince and Princess was really unwelcomed and a trauma, really, for country, a big constitutional headache," Mr Jenson was 'relieved' when the news of their divorce came out in the public.

He added that aides could then "deal with the world as it really was, instead of the world as we were pretending it was".