The fan suggested the way the couple was positioned reflected expectations of the era, when a future king appearing taller than his wife could reinforce traditional ideas surrounding status and masculinity.
“These photos were taken in the 1980s, when the royal family still adhered to the old standards. The photographers were trying to portray the power and status of the future king by making him look taller than his wife. Diana, on the other hand, is in a more modest position,” they wrote.
Why Charles appeared taller than Diana
The idea that something deeper may have been at play has also been explored by sociologist Lisa Wade, who examined photographs of Charles and Diana through the lens of traditional expectations surrounding gender and height.
“They were typically
arranged so as to suggest that he was significantly taller than her, or at least to disguise the fact that he was not,” Wade, associate professor of sociology and gender at Tulane University, wrote in an essay titled “Prince Charles and the Manufacture of Men’s Superior Height.”
