Would Charles and Diana have divorced if Camilla wasn’t in the picture?

[MamoruHisaishi]

Was it really Camilla who ruined the marriage or was it just that Diana and Charles would have ended up divorced regardless if another woman or man was in the picture?

TripleDaisySummer · Today 16:21
Now, the late Queen may have had many talents, but matchmaking definitely wasn't one of them.

I still think they'd have divorced eventually as they were both having affairs with married people.

I read recently that it was Mountbatten who finally persuaded the Queen not to give Charles permission to ask Camilla to marry him. Mountbatten!! That expert on marital harmony....

No they were not suited.
It was an arranged marriage.
Under different circumstances (away from the limelight, and poor) they might have remained married. Many, many couples stay together regardless of how much they despise each other.
He was 35 when they married I believe. There are not many well to do 35 year old virgins around who would fit the role.
She was unstable. She felt unloved by her parents, she knew they wanted a boy and not her. Charles was a traditionalist. His whole life has been lived that way.
Very sad all round.

Mountbatten was supposedly lining up his granddaughter - and I think PC did after his sudden murder asked and was rejected mainly as they felt more like siblings.

Mountbatten was suppose to have been involved in Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philp match. In which case he was slight better at matchmaking than Baroness Fermoy despite his own marriage problems.

I would imagine that he got in because of who he was to some extent, and his degree possibly have been allocated on the grounds that it was a respectable result but not exceptional.

Maybe he did it all on merit.

It was an arranged marriage, it was arranged after the second meeting,

Diana played the media declaring them to be in love. They were strangers. And it didn’t work. It could only have worked if they both accepted it for what it was, an arranged marriage, where she gave birth to the heir and spare and in return lived a life of luxury. It was not a love match, there was never any romance. They had nothing in common and were completely opposite characters

it was never going to last.

They wouldnt have divirced. They would have lived separate lives and played happy families for the cameras.

He was 31 when they married (she was 20 by then, though 19 at time of engagement)

I simply don't believe the story about Louis Mountbatten and permission to propose. There was never any question of marriage at that time as
a) Charles was dallying between more than one girlfriend, and there was no hint of lifelong attachment to his mistresses
b) Camilla very much wanted someone else (and did indeed marry him)

No need for wider Royal family to intervene, as there was nothing to intervene in

Nah, both were hungry for that love match, neither were happy playing rhe game.

I think so. They were never a match.

They were totally unsuited. They had little in common. She was very indiscreet. That marriage was always doomed, she was never cut out to be queen.

@WinnieTheW0rm

Andrew Parker-Bowles (the inspiration for Jilly Cooper's Rupert Campbell-Black).

^^^^^
Really????
I love those books.
I have the entire series twice!!!!

She only had an affair because he was in a relationship with Camilla. Don't try to out that one on Diana. She wasn't perfect but she was faithful until she realised she was in a loveless marriage with a cheater.

I think yes.

Yes, they were totally and utterly incompatible. They were told to divorce in the end, because it was becoming a farce, and that would have happened regardless.

It has been well documented that Diana was the first to have affairs, 10 before Charles turned to Camilla. They were never suited. Charles was very inexperienced emotionally and Diana was an emotional wreck. I like to think had she lived she would have found her soul mate and lived happily in some glamorous part of the world.

@gogogoji I’m not putting it solely on her but he apparently rekindled his relationship with Camilla in 1986 by which time Diana had had several affairs of her own . At the end of the day they weren’t meant to be .

the rumours of the time were very much diana went first - doesn’t mean she wasn’t pushed to it by being starved of love and affection.

Yes, I think so.
They were not suited and it was kinder to Diana to divorce and allow her time to find happiness with a kindred soul rather than her having many flings with unsuitable men.
Charles (were there not Camilla) would also have had the chance to find a supportive partner who could cope with the challenges of service and exposure but also survive and feel secure in quiet country pursuits and during times apart.

Diana seemed very needy. Could she ever have felt loved in the way she craved by a man who had other important committments? Had she lived, hopefully she might have found a partner who made her his universe.

I agree, but I don't think that means that - before 1986 - he was cheating on her with Camilla. The omnipresence of Camilla was a Diana invention "there were three of us in that marriage" being a very good line and more catchy than giving the real numbers from both sides.

I suspect she said it as a way of gathering public support to herself in the War of the Wales, and of course it's always easier to damn the OW (which she was by time of interview) than blame the man, or shoulder your share. And of course, though I doubt very much this was her intent, it was later used in the "thwarted true love" revisionist narrative to make Camilla acceptable as Queen. That worked brilliantly

If it is correct that Charles did not have affairs in the early part of his marriage, resuming in 1986 (whether that was with Camilla or others) then yes, he was waiting for her to do something that gave him permission. 1986 saw the end of the affair (possibly emotional, not physical, but admitted to by Diana as highly inappropriate) with Barry Manakee and the the start of her relationship with James Hewitt.

It seems that Charles was not going to do anything about his wife's affairs (as long as she did not publicly embarrass The Firm) but if she was having life on the side, so would he.

How far each is responsible for the state of the marriage before 1984 (start of Diana's affair with Manakee) can only be guessed at. But looking at threads on ordinary people having affairs , the advice is always that cheating is not the answer, that if something is wrong in your marriage you fix it or move on, you don't betray; or, if you were the cheated on party, it's not about you it's about the character of the betrayer. And the then Wales were a mess - in both directions it seems

I don't think it's that many:

During marriage:
Barry Manakee (possibly EA, her account)
James Hewitt
James Gilbey (possibly EA, her denial)

Starting after separation (1992)
Oliver Hoare
Will Carling (denied by him at the time, later admitted)
Hasnat Khan

Starting after final divorce (1996):
Dodi Al Fayed

Rumoured only:
John Kennedy Junior (met privately once in a hotel)
Bryan Adams ("just great friends" who would meet at KP, but his girlfriend sure there was more to it)

Yes it would have ended in divorce.

It was a very poorly matched arranged marriage. They didn't know one another and had very little in common.

Camilla was seen as 'not good enough' as she didn't have an aristocratic background. When it was becoming clear he had the hots for her, he got sent away with the navy, she thought he wasn't interested and accepted PB.

The RF seemed to screw up various generations with poor arranged marriages and choosen partners not being acceptable.
Edward, William & Harry have all benefited from lessons being learned from other failed marriages.

Totally agree. I think they thought they could handle it, but they couldn't.

Yes, they were staggeringly incompatible

Yes, they were not compatible at all.

Diana also had affairs and seemed to fall hard each time, completely besotted and at one point even bordering on stalking a married man.

I think at some point she would've let her heart rule her head (possibly once the boys were older) and left Charles for the love she wasn't getting in her marriage.

I think left up to Charles he would've just muddled along in the marriage, leading separate lives, even if he was unhappy.

Camilla did not ''ruin the marriage''.

Charles was an adult and decided to continue their affair. She did not force him to do anything. They are both equally responsible.

He and Diana were never suited/compatible.

It was such a silly and archaic thing to insist that he should marry a young, naive woman (a virgin).

This pretty much made it an arranged marriage for show to produce heirs and unsurprisingly it ended in disaster.

Charles comes across as a moody/grumpy person and Camilla seems to be able to handle his prickly personality well. They were always suited to each other: same interests, compatible personalities and crucially Camilla has no interest in upstaging him.

It was sad that Diana went into this marriage thinking it was going to be a fairy tale story but it was doomed from the start.

The real love story here is Charles and Camilla. They were always made for each other and he was willing to risk everything for her.