It had long been speculated that an eligible Prince Charles would marry a Spencer girl – and it turned out to be true.
But Diana was not his first look in that direction. Because before he got engaged to the future Princess of Wales, Charles dated her older sister, Lady Sarah.
If that connection had worked, the future could have looked very different. But despite great public interest in the possible match, that did not happen.
And on May 17, 1980, she married Neil McCorquodale, a farmer and former officer in the Coldstream Guards, in Great Brington, Northamptonshire.
Lady Sarah Spencer’s wedding to Neil McCorquodale at St Mary’s Church Great Brington near Althorp on 17 May 1980
Princess Diana (second from right) visits her old school in Sevenoaks with sisters Lady Sarah (far right) and Lady Jane (far left)
Before marrying Diana, Charles dated her older sister, Lady Sarah, pictured in 1977
Lady Sarah and her husband chose a modest wedding ceremony at little St Mary’s Church near Althorp, the Spencers’ ancestral seat, with the following reception held at the family estate.
On her wedding day, Lady Sarah, now 68, wore a high-necked lace dress teamed with the famous Spencer family tiara and a classic bouquet of white flowers.
The Spencer Tiara, made by Garrards, features an elaborate design of stylized flowers adorned with diamonds set in silver settings.
Said to date back to the 18th century, it was given to Diana’s grandmother, Cynthia, Viscountess Althorp in 1919 by a distant relative named Lady Sarah Spencer as a wedding present.
While all three Spencer sisters wore the headpiece on their wedding days, their mother, Frances Shand Kydd, did not wear it when she married into the Spencer family in 1954.
While Princess Diana was not a maid of honor at her eldest sister’s wedding, Princess Margaret’s daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto, was.
The couple is married to this day and has three children together, Emily Jane McCorquodale, Celia Rose McCorquodale and George Edmund McCorquodale.
Sarah and Neil live a relatively peaceful life near Grantham, Lincolnshire, where she was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire for a year in 2009.
Sarah married Neil McCorquodale, a farmer and former officer in the Coldstream Guards
Lady Sarah with her husband, Neil, and children Emily (far right) and George at a memorial service in memory of Earl Spencer in 1992
Diana Princess of Wales, centre, with sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes
However, it could very well have been a royal wedding anniversary for Lady Sarah if she had played her cards differently. For a time she was at the center of speculation about Charles’ engagement plans in the late 1970s.
Those rumors came to an abrupt end when she was on a skiing trip with the prince in Klosters, Switzerland, in 1978.
The redhead later told reporters it was a “great vacation, but there’s no engagement.”
Sarah, 22, said, “There’s no chance of me marrying him. I’m not in love with him. And I wouldn’t marry anyone I didn’t love, whether he was the garbage man or the king of England.
“If he asked me, I would turn him down. I would only marry for love’
It was in fact Lady Sarah who introduced Charles to her younger sister at Althorp House – the home of the Spencer family. And we know the rest.
In 1977, before marrying Diana Spencer, Charles dated her older sister, Lady Sarah. Prior to the 1981 wedding, Sarah said, “I proposed to them. i am cupid.’
On holiday at the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, Lady Sarah Spencer put a stop to rumors, telling reporters it was a ‘great holiday, but no engagement’
It was Lady Sarah who introduced Charles to her younger sister, whom he would marry in 1981
Prior to Charles and Diana’s wedding, Sarah said in 1981, ‘I introduced them. I am Cupid.’
Later in life, even after Diana and Charles’ marriage ended, Lady Sarah often accompanied her sister on official visits as one of her ladies-in-waiting.
After Diana’s death, Lady Sarah became the president of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund before it closed in 2012.
The 69-year-old and her other sister, Lady Jane Fellowes, 66, have remained close to their cousins Prince William and Prince Harry.