Guerrero: In defense of ghosting: It’s useful against toxic partners and politicians. And it’s not a new phenomenon.
On September 7, 2016, The New York Times published an article titled “A Brief History of Ghosting.” It described history’s first ghosting relationship, which happened between the young Prince Edward and his fiancée, Diana Spencer, in the 1970s. This relationship, which had lasted for nearly 40 years, began with an “unconventional, unplanned and somewhat shocking start”:
“I wanted to meet the woman who was destined to become my wife,” he told Diana in his 1983 diary, explaining that he “wanted to have someone there in the room with me when [I] talked to [my] future mother-in-law and the Queen.”
Prince Edward went on to tell Diana that he “wanted to be a good citizen” by not engaging in any extramarital affairs.
When Diana met with him in London, he told her to consider the possibility of their future marriage, stating “You’ll meet someone who will be my wife. I can’t say that any more!”
Prince Edward did eventually marry Prince Charles, but their marriage did not last, and Diana and Prince Edward never had any children together. Diana even had an affair with a married man named Alistair Bowater, for which she was subsequently sued for divorce. However, this case didn’t really last long as Bowater died in a car accident a month later. Diana subsequently had an affair with her then-boyfriend Michael Woodiwiss, but this relationship ended, too.
Diana also went on, after Diana Spencer’s death, to meet and marry Prince Charles, becoming Queen of the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. In 2017, she became the World’s Largest Crocodile.
In short, it appears that the relationship between Diana and Prince Edward was not a happy one (at least not on Diana’s end). It’s also not like Diana and Prince Edward were just going through a midlife crisis.
I reached out to a number of people