The late Princess Diana claimed the British Royal Family was "not very loving" during a taped conversation.

The mother of Princes William and Harry confided in pop star George Michael on her birthday in 1996 about her divorce from her husband Prince Charles.

Diana says: "It's been pretty grim, but we're near the end of it."

The chart-topping star then asked the Princess whether she thinks she will "get what she has asked for", prompting Diana to reply: "I'm going to get three quarters of what I want and the quarter you can't have, so there you go.

"Not a very loving, compassionate family, this one I'm leaving, I tell you."

The phone conversation was recorded by George's answering machine, according to The Sun newspaper, which claims the singer subsequently gave the tape to his friend, Andros Georgiou.

Meanwhile, a new documentary recently revealed that Princess Diana felt her relationship with the Prince of Wales started to get "serious" when she was a teenager.

The royal - who tragically passed away in 1997 - admitted she felt her romance with Prince Charles started to blossom two years prior to their wedding day in 1981 when she was "18 and a half" years old.

During a segment in 'Diana - Her Story', she says: "When the [relationship] really started to get serious ... I must have been 18 and a half. I was asked to stay with some friends in Sussex, and they said, 'Oh, the Prince of Wales is staying the night because he's playing polo.'

"So I thought, 'Well, I haven't seen him for ages, he's just broken up with his girlfriend; [his great-uncle Lord] Mountbatten's just been killed. And I said it will be nice to see him."