The fairy tale romance of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles raised worldwide interest in Britain's royal family.

Engagement pictures showing the smiling couple, and showing off Diana's ring, an 18-carat sapphire surrounded by diamonds, were splashed across everything from newspapers to commemorative coffee mugs.

The heir to Britain's ancient throne and his beautiful princess-to-be obliged admirers by holding a glittering storybook wedding with all the royal trappings imaginable.

Crowds packed London streets and millions watched worldwide on television as Charles, 32, and Diana, 20, exchanged vows at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981. The public soaked up all the pomp and circumstance of the royal family out in force and looking its best.

The couple honeymooned in Hampshire and aboard the royal yacht Britannia in the Mediterranean.

The spectacle of the young, attractive and privileged couple starting life together touched well-wishers at a personal level, and the prince and princess's relationship became, in a sense, public property.

The 12-year age difference between the prince and princess seemed to matter

little at this stage.

The royal couple didn't keep their public waiting on the all-important question of producing an heir to the throne. Diana gave birth to William Arthur Philip Louis on June 21, 1982, less than a year after the wedding.