To think that Charles and Camila are actually an example of genuine love

[Noddyandbiggerears]

Yes of course I feel sorry for Diana. Yes I think being a royal has a huge impact. But they let young and are now still together and seemingly happy in their 70’s, despite a lot of shunning, negative press, etc.

I think you're right, OP. For Charles, it was always Camilla and vice versa.

They were always meant to be together and it's sad that they weren't allowed to marry from the beginning. Would have saved a lot of heartache.

I think you're right, OP. For Charles, it was always Camilla and vice versa.

They were always meant to be together and it's sad that they weren't allowed to marry from the beginning. Would have saved a lot of heartache.

This in spades. Whatever I think of them as people or the way the Firm has handled their relationship over the years, they genuinely seem to be each other's 'one' and I can't argue with that.

I agree, Diana was shockingly young and now I am much older I think this even more shocking and sad. She was damaged before she met him (her mother left when she was 5 to live with someone else) but this was of course exacerbated by her marriage to him. I think she would never have married him if she had had a more stable upbringing and more self confidence. Diana was a very tragic figure but I feel sorry for Charles in many ways too. You can have sympathy for them both even while thinking they (but particularly Charles and the RF) behaved badly during their marriage. You can still be happy for Charles that after so long being apparently miserable he has found some sort of happiness.

I have a lot of time for Camilla. She does excellent work for charity and I bet she'd be an absolute hoot on a night out.

Too many people seem to struggle to separate real life from a drama based on historical events like The Crown. I love the Crown - but they have invented a lot, including the fact that Charles and Camilla were "together" all the way through his marriage, and hers.

RaspberryCoulis
I completely agree with you.

@Notrightbutok

Andrew Parker Bowles was happy for Camilla to sleep with Charles, they had supportive friends who let them meet up at their houses for weekends. It wasn't like they were forced apart for decades. I feel sympathy for Andrew Parker Bowles who moved on and remarried then his wife passed away.

That dude was a total shagger. It's more a case that Camilla wouldn't have gone back to Charles if he'd been faithful to her. I am not even sure how much of a real love story it was on her part in that period or just Camilla trying to make herself feel better.

What irritates me most about this thread is that if someone's husband cheated and left for OW, but that was their soul mate, no one would say 'well they are happy' 'maybe it's genuine love'.
They don't get a free pass just because they are royal. He's a scumbag cheat.

@ArranBound

I think you're right, OP. For Charles, it was always Camilla and vice versa.

They were always meant to be together and it's sad that they weren't allowed to marry from the beginning. Would have saved a lot of heartache.

She didn't want to marry him!

She didn't want him enough to sign up for all the shit.

It seems pretty common knowledge that they now lead fairly separate lives.

Pretty much what you'd expect for what seem to be two pretty emotionally stunted people typical of their background... to them, at the time, drafting in the broodmare, marrying other people then carrying on their affair was an acceptable solution all round.

Not normal really, certainly not moral or kind, but just the way they were. They certainly suit/suited each other, they certainly got what they both wanted, but I don't think for a moment that most people would look at them and think 'How romantic!'

Yes I agree. If the Queen had allowed the marriage or Charles had stood his ground at the time, everyone would have been happy.
They together, and Diana would have found the love of her life and be actually happy.
This proves nobody can choose a life partner for someone else!

What irritates me most about this thread is that if someone's husband cheated and left for OW, but that was their soul mate, no one would say 'well they are happy' 'maybe it's genuine love'. Actually I have seen threads on here from OP’s whose ex’s left for OW who say that the ex and the OW are now happy and actually far better suited to each other than they were.

I don’t think that cheating during the marriage is ok but I do think that it’s possible to marry the wrong person, and that sometimes, someone else is better suited and the first marriage ends because of that.

But nobody is ever allowed to leave a marriage to be with someone else because then it’s assumed they were sleeping together already....

I don't know that I could even begin to judge their marriage. The aristocracy have their own culture and values quite apart from the rest of the country. What Kate has brought is actually very middle class values.

Charles has remained devoted to Camilla for decades and seems genuinely happy. Diana didn't exactly treat William and Harry's nannies with much love. She was really fairly viscous toward them. I think she's been treated kindly as she has become a martyr. If anyone failed her it was her own family that served her up on a platter.

Can’t say I like any of them, who knows what they’re like off camera? Charles certainly doesn’t have the highest EQ in the world having seemingly been good mates with Jimmy Saville.
The only one I have a bit of grudging respect for is Harry. Marrying an attractive foreigner and getting the getting the hell out of that disfunctional relic is the only logical course of action for anyone born into that.

@CommanderBurnham

True love was Edward and Wallace - he gave up the throne to have his woman. Charles wanted to be king and have the mistress. I'm sure Andrew would have stepped up.

I assume you're joking Wallace didn't want to get married or for Edward to give up the throne. She begged him not to do it.

Great love / Soulmates / Meant to be. I am not too sure.

Charles and Camilla basically half 'commissioned' out the drudgery of couple life. They mostly enjoyed the frisson of an illicit affair. Stolen phone calls, getaway weekends / weeks etc.

None of the usual menial things like worry about a child with high temp, dehydration from d&v , sleepless nights from worry(I know they had nannies, but Diana was hands on emotionally at least), all those nasty downs. Even considering couples without children, they never had the sitting down long talks about a bad situation in each others's life, work or maybe sickness or bereavement etc. All the bad things that a normal couple would have to share daily, put up with the changes in the partner etc. If these things happened, C&C would have been on the phone to each other or meet over the weekends which is a nice getaway relief, but let's face not the same as a proper couple who are fully exclusively in each other's life.

By the time they got married, they were mellowed with middle age and the comfort of having known each other for years and therefore knowing what to expect.

I believe that C loved APB and was flattered that he chose her over his other conquests in toff land. But he would not keep it in his pants, so her victory was short lived. She had seemed to put herself front and centre in Charles life, and lucky for her, his chosen bride was a naive teen. If C had married a more formidable, older woman, not too sure she would have had this opportunity. I think it was satisfying to know that even if APB cheats, she is not the problem, she can pull the attention of the King to be. Had APB ‘came back home’, I wonder if the PC affair would have lasted as long as it had.

I sometimes wonder if C was not there if PC&D would have lasted. She was in love with him and the idea of a real Prince Charming. To me she had seemed to be quite in aware of him, but Camilla was in the way and did not allow the opportunity for them to properly bond at a couple. D speaks about PC going hot and cold, up and down with her, and she mentions periods of obsession. D struck me as being clingy - not convenient for a cheating man, but I think a man with low self esteem who is constantly being judged like PC, this would not have been a problem. Alas, he received his reassurances from C. I think the reason it kind of clawed that D was popular was because he was obstructed by Camilla. Otherwise, if they were a couple in love he would have displayed her proudly and she would have toned down some of it, to put him in front.

@OVienna

That dude was a total shagger. It's more a case that Camilla wouldn't have gone back to Charles if he'd been faithful to her. I am not even sure how much of a real love story it was on her part in that period or just Camilla trying to make herself feel better.

Did not see your post before, but I totally agree with this.

@jeppyjop ok so is Diana a scumbag cheat as well?

@jeppyjop

What irritates me most about this thread is that if someone's husband cheated and left for OW, but that was their soul mate, no one would say 'well they are happy' 'maybe it's genuine love'. They don't get a free pass just because they are royal. He's a scumbag cheat.

Yeah but 30 years later?

How many marriages break up horribly but the people move on, you'd be mad to still be pining after all those years.

Yes bit at least he did the half decent thing and gave up the throne. He didn't pretend to want it all. Both may have regretted it later but he took the risk.

I think Edward did want it all. He wanted all the nice stuff that goes with HRH, including people fawning on him, he just didn't want to do the boring bits or any of the work. The fact that he didn't get what he wanted after the abdication was a factor in his flirtation with the Nazis, and is why he spent most of the time in a prolonged sulk.

Maybe because The Crown didn't cover Diana's numerous affairs, some posters aren't aware of them

How many marriages break up horribly but the people move on, you'd be mad to still be pining after all those years.

Their affair was of course not right, but the marriage was miserable, Diana also cheated (and I don't judge her harshly for it either, given the situation she was in) and it all happened back when people were dancing to Agadoo and thought mullets were cool. All the living relatives have made peace with it now, the kids are pushing 40 and married with kids of their own...are we really going to see this whole complicated, sad and now really quite old story as, "BUT THEY CHEATED"?

I really didn't think so many people would have such a simplistic view of it even now, but they have. This is why Camilla can't be styled Queen. Even Princess Consort is pushing it but I think they can get away with that.

What irritates me most about this thread is that if someone's husband cheated and left for OW, but that was their soul mate, no one would say 'well they are happy' 'maybe it's genuine love'

Sometimes reasonable people make bad choices. A decision to cheat is a bad choice that causes lots of hurt.

Some people cheat just because they can and the offer is there, other people have affairs and realise their current relationship is wrong or they have found love with someone else. It doesn't excuse the cheating, but if they go on to have a long and happy relationship with their new spouse why should people deny that they are in love?

The idea that people should spend years or decades begrudging someone moving on is silly to me (but we see it on threads where people talk about their ex's new woman and it turns out the 'new' woman is actually someone he's been in a long term relationship with for 5/10 years).

@Mummy195

I believe that C loved APB and was flattered that he chose her over his other conquests in toff land. But he would not keep it in his pants, so her victory was short lived. She had seemed to put herself front and centre in Charles life, and lucky for her, his chosen bride was a naive teen. If C had married a more formidable, older woman, not too sure she would have had this opportunity. I think it was satisfying to know that even if APB cheats, she is not the problem, she can pull the attention of the King to be. Had APB ‘came back home’, I wonder if the PC affair would have lasted as long as it had.

I sometimes wonder if C was not there if PC&D would have lasted. She was in love with him and the idea of a real Prince Charming. To me she had seemed to be quite in aware of him, but Camilla was in the way and did not allow the opportunity for them to properly bond at a couple. D speaks about PC going hot and cold, up and down with her, and she mentions periods of obsession. D struck me as being clingy - not convenient for a cheating man, but I think a man with low self esteem who is constantly being judged like PC, this would not have been a problem. Alas, he received his reassurances from C. I think the reason it kind of clawed that D was popular was because he was obstructed by Camilla. Otherwise, if they were a couple in love he would have displayed her proudly and she would have toned down some of it, to put him in front.

I also agree with you @Mummy195. 100% on the APB analysis and that things might well have gone differently had he married an older, stronger woman. The story about Anna Wallace is true though, that she told him to bugger off and part of the reason was Camilla. So maybe another person wouldn't have lasted as long as Diana did rather than prevailing over Camilla, iyswim.

Whether they'd have lasted if she wasn't around is also an interesting question. It's hard to believe it's not MORE likely they would have but they were sooo different. I also think there is a possibility that Diana could have gotten bored to distraction by him.

I think it would be interesting to see what public opinion would be if Camilla was considered by most to be 'prettier'.Depressingly I think you would find a lot more support for the couple. Especially if Diana had not been considered so attractive.

@TommyKnocker

I think it would be interesting to see what public opinion would be if Camilla was considered by most to be 'prettier'.Depressingly I think you would find a lot more support for the couple. Especially if Diana had not been considered so attractive.

Ha, yes. I was a very young child when they were divorcing and I remember learning the word "frump" from all the times Camilla was called it. Even as a kid, I thought it was unfair. She wasn't as beautiful as Diana, but who was?