Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have warmed to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

242 replies

octonaught · 04/02/2018 09:15

I am old enough to remember the Diana years really clearly, including Charles & Diana’s wedding.
At the time I thought Camilla was awful “there were 3 of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” said Diana, the media minx.
All 3 players, Diana, Charles & Camilla were victims of the protocols of the time, ie the future Queen needed to basically be a Virgin, & Charles & Diana basically had an arranged marriage, which just didn’t work out, but due to their position they weren’t allowed to quietly go their separate ways.
Charles & Camilla have —officially— been together over 20 years. Camilla has kept her head down & they look like a very happy couple.

I don’t know about the political ramifications of Camilla being queen or not. But as a person, she seems ok.

OP posts:
diddl · 04/02/2018 09:50

I think that Camilla was considered unsuitable, but I thought she was determined to marry APB anyway, so it wouldn't have happened anyway.

APB had affairs I think so she was unhappy in her marriage.

Charles was also unhappy, but they could have divorced rather than having an affair.

I don't begrudge the. their happiness, but there's the remark that Charles made about not seeing Cailla again until his marriage had broken down, & I just thought it sounded so arrogant & self righteous.

I think it's fair enough for her to be Queen if she wants.

I get the impression she doesn't care & it's Charles who pushes it-that as his wife she is "entitled" to that title & therefore must have it.

He needs to step back & realise that isn't all about him!

x2boys · 04/02/2018 09:51

If Diana hadent died she would have quite possibly have remarried Herself now, and relations do mellow over the years .

PoppyCherry · 04/02/2018 09:51

I'm looking forward to how they portray her on the Crown...when will that be I wonder, season 6 -7?

Season 3 will cover the seventies/early eighties won’t it? So, maybe towards the back end of that?

Primarkismyonlyoption · 04/02/2018 09:52

Not all for her but diana was highly manipulative in that martin bashir interview deliberately making her childrens father look shit. He was a shit, but it didnt need to be aired.
I have grown towarm to charles. Not perfect but he was married off to a girl he had no feelings for and him and camilla have loved each other for years.
I am sorry for what diana went through but i think charles has been punished enough and if camilla makes him happy then so be it. The boys seem to like her, so thats a good thing.

TSSDNCOP · 04/02/2018 09:54

She has an ongoing affair with a man that was marrying a 19 year old, then continued that affair throughout that young woman's marriage when she was having her children and suffering mental health issues. These are inescapable truths, and if it was playing out on Mumsnet there would be a server meltdown.

Should Charles have married Diana? No. But his own vanity and ambition meant he wasn't going to do an Uncle David and insist on marrying Camilla.
Should Diana have married Charles ? No. And I don't buy that it was arranged . I think Diana's own testimony she was a willing participant until she realised things were out of hand and by then it was too late to back out.

I would like to think that, when the time comes, Camilla will decline the Role of Queen. She has worked hard and kept her head down, and she does seem a good sort. By declining the role she will retain the dignity she's tried so hard to regain. It can't be denied that Diana's behaviours was at least in part a consequence of Camilla's choices.

CrazyExIngenue · 04/02/2018 09:54

Season 3 will cover the seventies/early eighties won’t it? So, maybe towards the back end of that?

I just googled. She and Diana will be in Season 4.

diddl · 04/02/2018 09:55

" but he was married off to a girl he had no feelings for"

Ah, the poor love.

Having to father & heir & a spare because he was an only child & everyone was depending on him to keep the line going.

loveka · 04/02/2018 09:57

I thought Sarah and Andrew had stopped living together?

mogloveseggs · 04/02/2018 09:58

I like her.

ChickensGoBoak · 04/02/2018 10:00

I've met her a few times - always very pleasant, puts on a good show about being interested, and will have a little laugh and joke. I would not say that about the other female royals I've met!

Primarkismyonlyoption · 04/02/2018 10:01

I always think she seems quite nervous and uncomfortable being in the spotlight.

sinceyouask · 04/02/2018 10:03

As far as I have an opinion on the doings of people I don't know and whose lives don't affect mine, I'm glad Camilla and Charles are happy together and think it would have probably been a lot better if they'd married one another originally.

hesterton · 04/02/2018 10:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

crazycatgal · 04/02/2018 10:08

I don't like her. If she was an ordinary woman she would have been roasted on here.

SharonMott · 04/02/2018 10:09

Charles was utterly spineless and just went with the flow and had no concern for the fallout of his actions. He wasn't prevented from marrying Camilla. Camilla was love struck by Andrew and because she wasn't a virgin it was a non starter anyway back then. Diana did manipulate the press but she was treated like utter utter shit and had no voice. For him to marry her when she was only eighteen but emotionally so much younger when he was what? 32? Crazy. They had only met thirteen times. A recipe for disaster. Charles was sensible enough to realise it was never going to work but Diana was taken in my the machine and fine words. Camilla may well be fundamentally decent but she knew exactly what results her actions had on Diana as did Charles and I think the pair of them are disgusting individuals for what they did back then. Everyone was in a terrible position but nothing was done properly or with dignity. Had Diana been allowed to grow up and mature away from the press and then met someone that genuinely loved her, I am sure she would have been fine but with her childhood and then with how she was treated, no wonder she displayed the behaviour she did. I think she was restrained TBH, she knew exactly what had been going on, even on her wedding day. To be put in a position where she was just 'hoping for the best' on her wedding day is shocking. She was stepping into the abyss poor cow.

sexnotgender · 04/02/2018 10:10

I quite like her.

VienneseFingers · 04/02/2018 10:11

Having to father & heir & a spare because he was an only child & everyone was depending on him to keep the line going.

Eh? Prince Charles has a sister and 2 brothers. Not an only child!!

I am pretty certain that when they got married there was a guarantee Camilla would never be a princess or a queen. No need for her to be a queen- Prince Philip isn't the King.

pasturesgreen · 04/02/2018 10:12

I like Camilla too. She and Sophie Wessex are some of the monarchy's best assets imo.

HolyMountain · 04/02/2018 10:15

I’m old enough too to remember it all.

Camilla seems a pleasant enough woman as far as I can see, I bet Charles is bloody hard work to live with.

IAmLucy · 04/02/2018 10:17

As you say OP they were victims of protocol. Charles seems considerably happier in his marriage to Camilla and I get the vibe they get on very well. Quite the opposite with Charles and Diana.

Camilla seems fine and I do think the public perception of her is changing thankfully. She didn't deserve all the vitriol thrown at her.

maddiemookins16mum · 04/02/2018 10:18

Me also (but then again I was not totally brain washed into thinking Diana was a complete angel and could do no wrong).

EdithWeston · 04/02/2018 10:19

Camilla of course was not his only mistress, so I think it was quite deliberate that she was made to appear as such (a campaign against her?)

Yes, Charles was unfaithful - either emotionally or physically or both. But so was she. And the outsider will never be able to sort out the timelines for who did what and when, or who was ta fault for what.

I think the idea that Diana could have put up with it stems from the material comfort of the life, that the wife would always take first place publicly and that both could have 'outside interests' once the breeding years were over as long as they were discreet. She may or may not have ever realised this, or agreed to it and then found it unliveable, or whatever. We'll never really know.

(And the various relationships between various Parker-Bowles and various prince and princesses probably doesn't bear scrutiny either. But it's not really anyone else's business)

MadisonAvenue · 04/02/2018 10:20

I really like her, not a huge fan of the Royal family but she comes across well.

Viviennemary · 04/02/2018 10:20

Next time there is a woman on here with young children fretting about her DH's affair. Shall we expect the same answers. His granny made him marry you. Well he's really loved OW best all along. I met the OW years ago and she was lovely. OW is a lovely warm person. You are a victim of protocol and you must just suck it up. Hmm

daisychain01 · 04/02/2018 10:22

All 3 players, Diana, Charles & Camilla were victims of the protocols of the time,

I don't have any opinion one way or another about Camilla, but she was a grown woman in a marriage herself, so I hold no truck that they had to break the rules just because they were bound by convention and couldn't be together. Um sorry but it shouldn't be one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us. Shagging behind their partners' backs while both still in marriages is still just that, however much one tries to rewrite history.