HOLY ROYAL WOW!!! This is some interesting back story about Princess Di and Charles...

Although the virginity of royal brides has been a concern for centuries, there was a bit more to the Charles and Diana story.

Charles was very close to his great-uncle, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma. As Charles got older and was urged more and more to marry, Mountbatten advised him to marry a naive young virgin. Mountbatten's idea was the this inexperienced young woman would look up to Charles, and be more easily molded into whatever Charles wanted her to be. Mountbatten really, really wanted Charles to marry his granddaughter Amanda and was probably trying to drop hints about Amanda's docile personality to piques Charles's interest. Mountbatten also had a notoriously lousy marriage with his own wife, so he wasn't really the best person from whom to take advice on marriage.

From commenter E.McMahon on Gawker website. IF true, I just cringe thinking about how women in royal families are seen as breeders. Fascinating and revolting, but then again most humans run both ends...

Mountbatten was assassinated in 1979, which left Charles bereft. The possible engagement with Amanda never came about. A few months after Mountbatten died, Charles ran into Diana at a party. The two had met before, but only in passing. Diana mentioned to her friends out of Charles's earshot that still looked very sad and needed cheering up. The two caught up with one another again and had a good chat about Mountbatten's death. Charles needed that sympathetic ear that Diana lent.

After that day, Charles (still in mourning for his uncle) remembered Mountbatten's advice about marrying a virginal, inexperienced girl. Diana not only fit the bill, but she also gave Charles some much-needed comfort when he was most vulnerable. That's when he began pursuing her with more interest and part of the reason why Diana's virginity became so very important in the story - because a dead relative said it should be.