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.

@GlummyMcGlummerson

It’s certainly not about looks though because Camilla looks like rod hull

Can we have one thread about a middle aged woman where someone doesn't make nasty remarks about her looks?

I’ve always got the impression they were more like friends now. Sure they might have had passion years ago but I don’t see much of it now and Charles could hardly divorce a second time after they broke up his first marriage.

Nah, he's her little tampon (not envy)

Actually I find Camilla stunning, also when she was young. Not chocolate box pretty or hollywood glam. She was clearly just very very sexy in that slightly horsey English way.

Diana on the other hand was a dull little frump but amazingly journalism at the time reported that she was most men's no 1 fantasy. It's just amazing the way fame plays tricks on the brain.

I just can't imagine how you think you know that, OP. There is plenty of evidence on MN and in rl that people are often in the dark for a long while about the state of their own marriage or the marriages of people they know well. And yet you think you kniw the true feelings of some people you've never met? People just make up stories in their own heads about what they want to think about famous people's real lives. Or believe what they read in the tabloids. You don't actually have any reason to think you know.

I remember thinking at the wedding of Charles and Diana, what kind of father lets a girl of her age marry into an organisation like that. It said in the book which Diana helped to write all those years ago, that Camilla helped chose the right kind of girl, one who wouldn't interfere in her relationship with Charles. An innocent young girl. By the time Diana realised what was going on, she had already committed. Consequently I dislike both Charles and Camilla for using another human being to cover their clandestine affair. I don't care if they are genuinely in love. What they did was dastardly.

But they were all cheating. Diana too.

@FlynnD

Diana was used, a child at 19 who didn’t have a clue what she was getting into, Charles always loved Camilla and they should have married but the Royals thought Camilla to be too ‘flighty’. Royals wanted an Heir and a spare, it’s those boys losing their Mother so young who were the only innocents in that whole fiasco.

People keep saying that Diana was a child. She married young but she was 20. She'd left school four years earlier. She was old enough to drive, vote, marry and have children. She didn't have to marry Charles. She could have said no. She did have support from her mother. She stayed with her in Australia before the engagement was announced. Her mother had married Earl Spencer at 18, so she could have advised her about marrying an older man and how it hadn't worked. Who is to say that she didn't give Diana good advice? I don't believe the narrative that Diana was straight out of her school uniform and up the aisle with no support.

Diana was an impressionable young girl, married to an older man. She was in love with him and had no idea what a heartless conniving man he was, that she was there to produce an heir and a spare and once she had done that, he more or less left her alone. I'm old enough to remember it all taking place. "The Crown " is a fictitious account. Bits added to make it more exciting and purile. It's not real life but as always, people will believe it is.

Iwonder777 I agree with you. I can never accept her as Queen or bend the knee.

YANBU, I've often thought the same thing and I actually really like Camilla... she didn't want to hurt Diana, she was just collateral damage.

The heart wants what it wants and had Charles have been allowed to marry the woman he really loved no one would have been hurt.

This one's on the monarchy, specially Prince Philip who has bullied and ignored his son in equal measure.

@lollylimejuice

Diana was an impressionable young girl, married to an older man. She was in love with him and had no idea what a heartless conniving man he was, that she was there to produce an heir and a spare and once she had done that, he more or less left her alone. I'm old enough to remember it all taking place. "The Crown " is a fictitious account. Bits added to make it more exciting and purile. It's not real life but as always, people will believe it is.

I very much doubt any of this, given her background. She mentioned once “keeping herself tidy” before marriage. She was no way the poor little innocent she’s portrayed, she came from a long line of women who made politically advantageous marriages.

I’d like to think Charlie is immensely proud of Harry for following his heart after everything he endured himself.

There's only so much you can do with short blonde hair and a crown.

LOL

No he was wrong he broke that girl and she paid the price now we should think that it’s all happy ever after with Camila no no no ☹️

@pickledplumjam

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.

Yes I grew up through that time, was a year or two older than her, and was shattered to hear her father interviewed on TV about the forthcoming marriage, saying she was great breeding material or stock, definitely farming type words were used. Awful man. Acted like a pimp

@Cam77

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.

His self pity is repellent though.

I remember thinking at the wedding of Charles and Diana, what kind of father lets a girl of her age marry into an organisation like that

I don't disagree, but seen from an aristo's POV it might have been considered quite a coup ... not that Spencer senior (or his son, come to that) is an example of the ideal husband

It's always seemed to me that the problem lay in a 20th century woman marrying someone more suited to a feudal 17th century court, but then that could have applied to any other candidate and who's to say they'd have got on any better?

@roxanne119

No he was wrong he broke that girl and she paid the price now we should think that it’s all happy ever after with Camila no no no ☹️

I think he and Camilla behaved very badly but that was a long time ago and people cannot beat themselves up forever. It happened, it's in the past. No doubt he has regrets, always will and has to live with them; her, not so sure, I imagine she was indifferent to anyone else's feelings. However many marriages break up and both parties go on to do better. The fact that he stayed with and married Camilla shows he loved her and she him though.

@lollylimejuice

Diana was an impressionable young girl, married to an older man. She was in love with him and had no idea what a heartless conniving man he was, that she was there to produce an heir and a spare and once she had done that, he more or less left her alone. I'm old enough to remember it all taking place. "The Crown " is a fictitious account. Bits added to make it more exciting and purile. It's not real life but as always, people will believe it is.

What proof do you have that he was heartless and conniving? He said that he didn't have an affair until the "marriage was irretrievably broken down us both having tried". I watched the wedding at the time and read the gossip about them during their marriage, but I wasn't actually at Kensington Palace or Highgrove so I don't know the truth and I doubt any of us do.

I think Camilla is supposed to be a lovely lady and it is sad that some people are mean and cruel to her. They deserve to be happy. Everyone deserves a chance to be happy.

Yes I grew up through that time, was a year or two older than her, and was shattered to hear her father interviewed on TV about the forthcoming marriage, saying she was great breeding material or stock, definitely farming type words were used.
Awful man. Acted like a pimp To be fair to him he was a farmer. I'm from farming stock and I am a farmer now. We still talk about humans in these terms. Semi jokingly. I don't expect anyone here to understand. Bloodlines are important.

I am the same age as Charles. They used to call him the most eligible bachelor in the world. I couldn't see it. I think it's an antiquated organisation. I always thought only an idiot would marry into that setup. Way to restrictive. It takes a certain kind of submissive nature to tolerate that way of life. On the other hand, I'd love all the clothes and handbags personal dresser and makeup artists.

@Soulstirring

I’d like to think Charlie is immensely proud of Harry for following his heart after everything he endured himself.

I heard through the grapevine that PC to William described Harry as "c**struck" not following his heart. PC doesn't think in terms of love and hearts. Hilariously, I suspect Harry does consider himself to be in a grand passion. They are all so dysfunctional, it's hard to comprehend.

I too believe they are happy & very much in love. It was sad, like others have said, that family bollocks got in the way. But then, if you take away the position and privilege it’s a story like many others.... there are plenty that marry wrong the first time round. They just don’t have to have their dirty linen aired in the media. But I’ve always wished them well, together with feeling bad for Diana. She seemed a nice woman who got done wrong.

@derxa

*Yes I grew up through that time, was a year or two older than her, and was shattered to hear her father interviewed on TV about the forthcoming marriage, saying she was great breeding material or stock, definitely farming type words were used. Awful man. Acted like a pimp* To be fair to him he was a farmer. I'm from farming stock and I am a farmer now. We still talk about humans in these terms. Semi jokingly. I don't expect anyone here to understand. Bloodlines are important.

Wow, after all these years, you have made sense of an experience of visceral disgust that I had listening to that man. I couldn't have imagined any man speaking of his daughter like that in public and thinking it was ok. So do you think she thought of herself like that too? If you're right, and I'm not doubting you, then this idea that she was a sweet little ingenue with romance in her heart is nuanced because she also knew she was regarded as a heifer by her own parent. Meaning that she must have full well been aware that PC had other women for the fun part of sexuality.

My opinion FWIW.

Diana wasn't a child when they married but she was only just 20. This is really young so my opinion is she was by definition exploited by the RF. She had an unhappy childhood and it seems by her own admission that she was already vulnerable and and looking for a father figure. This seems to be something Charles was completely not suited to provide nor what he was looking for so it was always destined to be a disaster.

I don't believe Camilla had anything to do with the match. I don't know that, but I would be surprised if she had that kind of influence having been rejected by the RF as a bride.

I don't believe Diana wouldn't have cheated if Charles wasn't having an affair because they didn't marry for love and were completely different people. She was bound to become disillusioned eventually. Also Charles would never have remained faithful even if not with Camilla because that behaviour was his normal (look at his family).

Camilla always seems like good fun. It was 40 years ago and if William and Harry accept and get on with Camilla then I don't see any reason to judge Camilla. Charles maybe but even he deserves some happiness!

Both Camilla and Diana are and were attractive in their own way and it's a bit unnecessary to call either of them dull or compare them.

I’m glad they’re together, but it’s tragic another woman was so badly affected by them not getting together in the first place. I believe William and Harry get on with her too, thank goodness.