Earl Spencer says Prince Charles was excited and giddy after Diana died.

[Flufffluff11]

News articles today have released a new snippet from Earl Spencer's book.

Earl Spencer says Prince Charles was 'excited, elated and giddy' after Diana died.

What are your thoughts on this comment?

No. She was heavily pressured.

Princess Margaret was quoted later in life as saying that 'Winston Churchill ruined her life by not letting her marry Peter Townsend'.

She said 'that Churchill was keen to avoid another Royal crisis less than two decades after the previous King abdicated'

I would be very surprised if it's true. He and Diana had been getting on better at that time, and she was still the mother of his children - who were at an age when they still needed her, especially Harry. If there's any truth in it at all, imo it's more likely to have been utter shock and deep worry about the boys. People can act very weird when they're in shock, like the famous laugh response to sudden terrible news.

Maybe so, or maybe not. I think she should have been allowed to make that choice without such punitive measures being imposed that she felt she had to give him up. Different times.

You're actually misinterpreting what I wrote. . I never said that the CofE forbid her from marrying altogether. Under certain conditions - she could marry.

I even quoted Princess Margaret where she said that a Civil marriage was possible.

I wrote that the Church of England said that they would not recognise her marriage. The government then said that because the Church of England does not recognise the marriage, the Government will not approve of the marriage unless Margaret gives up rights to the throne. This caused a public scandal at the time

As Margaret's sister Elizabeth was the literal head of the Church or England Margaret was under huge pressure from the church and the Government not to marry him

From everything we have ever learned over the years, I get the very strong impression that by the time Diana died Charles saw her only as a major irritation in his life . I dont think there was any love or respect for her at all. He never really showed any empathy for her situation at all as far as I can tell. She was simply a girl he was forced more or less to marry, and for whom he had very few feelings , except maybe right at the beginning.

Princess Margaret was quoted later in life as saying that 'Winston Churchill ruined her life by not letting her marry Peter Townsend'.

Churchill was no longer PM after 1955. Why didn't she marry Townsend then?

There's a difference between civil weddings and religious weddings. A religion doesn't typically recognise civil marriages - in the eyes of the Church, a couple is only married if they're married by the Church's religious rites, because marriage is a sacrament.

But a religious wedding isn't legal unless the wedding certificate is signed, which is the same certificate signed in civil weddings.

Margaret could have married Townsend in a legally recognised civil wedding. She could even have married him through another Christian church. But because the monarch is Head of the Church of England, Royal marriages are C of E, the C of E wouldn't have recognised the marriage. Strictly speaking, this means that formally the Queen couldn't have formally recognised the marriage either.

Hence Churchill's concerns. The pressure came from Churchill, who was an old man at that time.

In practice both the Queen and the country would have found a way to accept a civil, legal, marriage between Margaret and Townsend...but this would have meant Margaret relinquishing her Royal status for official purposes.

We have seen in recent years, just how important royal status is to members of the Royal family so I have no doubt that her reluctance to give up her Royal position was instrumental in Margaret's decision to not marry Townsend. I also don't doubt that she'd have continued to be treated Royally in private.

I don't know. Maybe Townsend was dating someone else. He got married to someone else in 1959.

Maybe him and Margaret didn't want to go through the public scandal thing again

Not disingenuous at all as I have not read details and would like to know. I've seen reference to it but no details. I dont read every post.

@wordler Oh, just found out it was a 25-year gap between Townsend and his second wife. Yeah, that's yucky, especially when you consider he made a habit of it. First wife a 7-year gap, Margaret a 16-year gap, then the 25-year gap. (Not that 7 years is a big gap, it's the wider context.) It doesn't speak well of his character that he only wanted much younger women.

It's said by most biographers that Townsend's second marriage was a happy one, but who knows. I do find it hard to believe that the younger party can remain happy in the last couple of decades with a man a quarter of a century older. She was French, though, so maybe she dealt with it in a very French way...

As for Margaret, she made a rebound marriage. She married Snowdon less than six months after Townsend married. And by all accounts, it was a horrible marriage. What a pity she didn't just gather herself and decide not to do anything hasty.

I imagine Charles sounded like he was on the brink of hysteria but I also think he's been well trained in not giving that vibe to the bereaved. Nobody comes out of this smelling of roses. Whatever people say about Diana cheating, it's well documented that he had deep feelings for Camilla before Diana walked down the aisle.
Also I'm sick of reading about how furious William is all the time. It's like a permanent state for him.

I just watched Earl Spencer's interview with the BBC. He's believable. He talks about the phone call with Prince Charles. He said that he's only had two phone calls with Prince Charles in his entire life, so he remembers every word.

Anyone else seen it? What do you think

To me, it sounds like the Earl of Spencer has his knickers in a twist. He has done very little in his life that is admirable and I am sure at his age, he has realized that fact.
The King went to France to bring Diana back to her home country. Was EoS even there? I thought two of her sisters were there, but I didn't think he was. I didn't know that W&H went to France also, and that had to be very hard for them.
I don't remember seeing KC dancing a jig but as they say, "recollections may vary".
I think EoS likes attention and he knows he won't get called a liar in public by the royals, so he can say whatever he wants. Harry had "Spare" and now EoS won't feel left out.

What a soap opera

I find it hard to believe, though I wasn't there. Who would be excited and giddy knowing what their children were going to have to suffer, losing their mother? Having to break the news that is going to change your children's life is devastating. I've had to do it. Under no circumstances would I be excited to do that to them.

Well divorced parents can definitely love their children and hate their ex partner. You wrote 'who would be excited at their children losing their mother'. Plenty of divorced parents don't even let the other parent see the children. There are so many custody battles between divorced parents.

My parents were divorced. It was a bitter divorce with custody battles.

I was a teenager when my dad died. My mother didn't comfort me when my dad died. She just talked badly about my father again

I'm sorry your mother wasn't supportive at that time for you. As parents we should be able to put our own feelings aside at this kind of time.

You're right, some parents wouldn't care. From the account in Spare, from Harry's POV Charles does seem to have at least handled it sensitively with them, whatever his personal feelings.

From what i Remember from reading spare, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Harry said that Charles spoke to him once about Diana dying, on the night that Diana died.

Then Harry said that two weeks later he went back to school and no one spoke about Diana again

I don't recall that much detail. I just remember the broad impression that Harry portrayed Charles as a generally warm father.

I don't think it would be abnormal to go back to school after two weeks. I wouldn't agree with never speaking about Diana again, but some people take that approach to grief. I don't agree with it, but some do.

And a reason Charles Spencer and Diana were often estranged. Didn't she want to go home to Althorp after her divorce and Charles Spencer said "no"?

Personally, I don't think he was involved much in her life during that time, though it might seem he would like everyone to believe differently.

I'm not putting money in his pocket by buying his "Look at me" book.

Yes harry wrote that he was just expected to get on with things and carry on as usual.

He wrote that this led to him having a lot of trauma about his mothers death, until he went for therapy as an adult.

The news coverage at the time - he looks like a man who is shellshocked, devastated and on the verge of tears not one who is "giddy with excitement"

I didn't know that W&H went to France also, and that had to be very hard for them.

They didn't. They stayed at Balmoral until demands from the Great British Public caused them all to return to London.

That's his public image.

I mean come on. He has loads of people working on his public image

Do we do in public in front of tv cameras what we do in private? No we don't.