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The following episode contains descriptions of an eating disorder, which might upset some listeners.

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Alright, Brooke, where are we starting this time? The Summer of Love. 1967? No, the other summer of love. 1980.

Well, that's the summer of love for Diana and Charles anyway. It's when they really start hanging out.

They go to the orchestra to hear Verdi's Requiem and they snog.

That's a gross way to describe making out... I know. And after two months of snogging, Charles still isn't totally smitten, but he is intrigued.

On paper, Diana ticks all of the Royal Wife material boxes. She's 19, she comes from a fancy family.

She's a virgin. Yep, that too. And she ticks all the boxes for Charles too. She's feisty. She gives him shit, and he likes it.

Like the time he invited her back to the palace after their first kiss, he says, you must come to London with me tomorrow. I've got work at Buckingham Palace. You must come to work with me. And she says, well, bugger it.

I do mind sitting there while you do your work. And he's like, how dare you talk to me like that. Don't you know who I am? No, he was into it.

This is the guy who's always gotten 100% of everything he's ever wanted.

So imagine what a turn on it must be to have Diana give him such a hard time.

In early September, the Queen hosts a weekend party of Ballmoral. That's her castle in Scotland. There are picnics and deer hunts and black tie dinners. All to the constant soundtrack of bagpipes.

Pretty much everyone the Queen cares about is invited. And this year, Charles asks his mummy if there's room for one more.

Okay, so Diana must be really excited. Not exactly. In her words, she's shitting bricks. She knows that she's going to have a shot with Charles. Then she has to win over his whole family.

For the Queen and her couple dozen best friends this weekend is a chance to relax, kill some birds and drink Zazaz. But for Diana, it's a test. Literally, it's called the Ballmoral test. And any woman who dates Charles must pass it.

The rules are simple. Know the etiquette. Slather on the charm and make yourself useful. If you mess up in any way, then you fail. And Diana is determined not to fail.

When she goes hiking with Charles friends and accidentally falls in the mud, she laughs at herself. Who cares if my dress is all dirty? Nothing bothers me. The friends love this routine. And they love Diana.

At dinner, she sits by Charles' father, Prince Philip, and laughs at all his jokes, which makes her hit with him too. But the Queen, it's going to take more to impress her. So she invites Diana to go horseback riding.

Sounds like there might be a twist? There is. Diana is scared to death of horses. But no way can she admit that. Not if she wants to win the Queen's approval. So she lies and says,

That's totally my faith. Count me in. And guess what? She pulls it off. She doesn't fall off the horse or ship bricks or anything. And the Queen is impressed. She probably knew Diana wasn't some expert horse woman. But she doesn't care. With Diana, she sees an unfussy, down-to-earth girl, which is how the Queen thinks of herself.

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