Nice photo of Charles and Zara Tindall

[Viviennemary]

I saw a nice photo of Charles being greeted by Zara. They were at a horse show. It was nice to see the support he is getting and also support from the public after all the trouble Harry has caused with his whining and demands books and tell all TV programmes and disclosing family stuff. Court cases and so on. No wonder William won't see him.

I don't think hugging for the cameras necessarily means they are warm huggy parents behing closed doors

The queen wasn't an overly affectionate person towards her children from everything charles has said himself in the past so it wouldn't surprise me if he was the same back when his dc were young

He does seem to have mellowed as he's gotten older , maybe since he was finally able to marry who he wanted he's happier and less stuffy, who knows. There's been some lovely interactions between him and his grandchildren over the last few years

I'm not convinced that he was always an affectionate parent though, it's not something he had growing up and he certainly wasn't a great husband either

Why is being “huggy” the gold standard of being warm and affectionate? My DS is neurodivergent and doesn’t like hugging, but he is kind, funny, concerned for others welfare and generally sociable. Hugging in public can be genuine and spontaneous, but it can also be completely performative as can any pda. I think what MrsDanvers says up thread about HM seeming genial and warm is pretty spot on

Well, we were told he wasn't a great husband, but given the circumstances under which those reports emerged I'd treat that with caution - mostly because we don't know what constituted a great husband to the other half of the partnership - who was also not without her flaws. Just a much better manipulator of the media.

I agree. A husband or wife is only as good as the partnership (unless they are abusive in some way of course). A successful partnership depends on the chemistry of those in the relationship and I think we can safely assume it was mostly missing in Charles and Diana’s case. It’s clearly different with Charles and Camilla

typos

IMO Charles and Diana are (in her case were, obvs) high maintenance people who both expected/needed to be the dominant partner. Charles because he was Prince of Wales and was used to people deferring to him as the future king, and Diana because of what I always felt was a profound need to be loved. Two dominant people in ANY relationship is a recipe for disaster. Camilla is much happier to be the support act.