King Charles found out about Princess Diana’s death hours after a car accident took her life. He reportedly “fell apart” over the news and was “distraught” not only for himself but his immediate family, whom he feared would be blamed for the heartbreaking tragedy.

Princess Diana’s untimely death left King Charles wondering if he’d be blamed

After a trip to France with her boyfriend, Dodi al Fayed, Princess Diana looked forward to returning to England and seeing her boys, Prince William and Prince Harry. The couple were planning to leave the City of Lights when a car crash killed them and their driver, Henri Paul.

Then-Prince Charles learned of the accident in the hours after Diana’s death. At the time, he was on summer break with his sons at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Royal author Tina Brown wrote about Charles’s reaction in the book Diana: 7 Days That Shook the Windsor’s. “He was absolutely distraught; he fell apart.”

“He knew, instantly, that this was going to be a terrible thing. That he will be blamed, that they will be blamed, for the death of Diana,” Brown continued.

Charles subsequently flew to Paris with Diana’s sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes. He argued with Queen Elizabeth for the use of a royal plane. He used that to fly to Paris and retrieve Diana’s body, bringing it home to England.

The New York Times reported on Charles’ gesture. “Diana lost her right to be called ‘Her Royal Highness’ as part of the divorce settlement last year, so she is theoretically not part of the inner family entitled to a royal funeral anymore. But as the mother of a future king, her place in the Windsor dynastic line is secure, and the Prince of Wales’s decision to bring the body back on a royal plane today confirmed that.”

Princess Diana and King Charles were divorced at the time of her death

Priness Diana and then-Prince Charles | Princess Diana Archive / Stringer / Getty Images© Provided by Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Just one year prior, Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles had officially divorced. The couple separated in 1992 after 11 years of marriage.

The couple’s separation came after years of trouble in their marriage. British Prime Minister John Major announced the couple’s formal split, noting it would have “no constitutional implications.”

Per The Washington Post, Buckingham Palace also confirmed at that time that there were no plans for the two to divorce and that they would “from time to time attend family occasions and national events together.”

However, in 1996, a formal divorce decree was announced. Charles and Diana were no longer legally wed.

Queen Elizabeth was criticized for how she handled the tragedy of Diana’s death

In light of Princess Diana’s death, Queen Elizabeth was highly criticized for how she handled the aftermath of the tragedy. Instead of rushing home to London with the royal family, she decided to stay put at Balmoral.

“At the time, you know, my grandmother wanted to protect her two grandsons and my father as well,” Prince William said in the BBC Documentary Diana 7 Days. “Our grandmother deliberately removed the newspapers and things like that, so there was nothing in the house at all. So we didn’t know what was going on.”

William added in the documentary that he and Prince Harry had “the privacy to mourn, to collect our thoughts, and to just have that space away from everybody.” Days later, the royal family returned to Kensington Palace.

Queen Elizabeth subsequently delivered a public address about Diana’s death on Sept. 5, 1997. It was her first live broadcast in 50 years.

She said, “First, I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness.”

The queen continued, “I admired and respected her—for her energy and commitment to others, especially for her devotion to her two boys. This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered. No one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her but felt they knew her will remember her.”

Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997. She was 36.