Charles and Diana

[Dman]

The royal family needed the cobwebs shaken from their very old institution and I think Diana helped them out.

 

[COUNTESS]

WRONG. The Royal Family was way to good for you little precious Saint Diana the all mighty!

And William And Harry knew everything that was going in and even Diana would talk to them about what was going and how bad their father was which was wrong of Diana to that! They saw magazines, newspapers, interviews. heard the fights,. They know more of went on then we do. Also Diana had many affairs of her own as well!

Also William and Harry loves their father just as much as their mother even with all the faults and mistakes. And they are also close to Camilla, No Camilla will never take Diana spot and she knows that but they are still close to get and are happy that their father is happy

You make it sound like William and Harry hated their Father and want nothing to do with him which is far from the truth!

Good God, no. That is what this stupid divide creates. They love their father. He is a good father. They were young children when all this happened. They, I am sure have their opinions, today. They have never turned their back on their mother. Even dead and cannot defend herself. She made many mistakes. So did they. I feel sorry for Charles and Camilla, that they didn't have the right to marry when they should have, as she had a "background". They were hypocrites and they have cost a great deal to many lives. It is too bad. Today, thanks, in part to Diana, they have arrived in many ways to being more open and less sacrosanct.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

The royal family needed the cobwebs shaken from their very old institution and I think Diana helped them out.

Diana cared about herself #1. You seem to be in some serious denial especially in regards to Diana intentionally upstaging members of the RF. She tried to destroy the institution and thought she was bigger than it. The main thing the RF has learned from Diana is to vet anyone who married into the family; probably one of the reasons it took Kate a decade to get a ring.

 

[Roslyn]

Diana cared about herself #1. You seem to be in some serious denial especially in regards to Diana intentionally upstaging members of the RF. She tried to destroy the institution and thought she was bigger than it. The main thing the RF has learned from Diana is to vet anyone who married into the family; probably one of the reasons it took Kate a decade to get a ring.

From transcript of telephone conversation with James Gilbey 31.12.89:

GILBEY: "And so darling, what other lows today?"
DIANA: "So that was it, I was very bad at lunch. And I nearly started blubbing. I just felt very sad and empty, and I thought: 'Bloody hell, after all I've done for this (expletive deleted) family.'"


A bit off-topic, but I always enjoy this part from later in the transcript:

DIANA: "I know. But do you know what's really quite--um--whatever the word is? His grandmother is always looking at me with a strange look in her eyes. "It's not hatred; it's sort of interest and pity mixed in one. I am not quite sure. I don't understand it..Everytime I look up, she's looking at me, then looks away, and smiles."

 

[Dman]

It seems odd that some would blame Diana for taking the attention away from members of the royal family at private and public official engagements with a smile, laugh, look, hairstyle or wardrobe.

From what I'm reading, Diana should've stayed in the background, sat/stood still, not laugh, not look at anything, wear a veil over her face so she wouldn't look attractive and wear shabby clothing. To me that's just dumb.

I'm glad Diana spoke out about what was going on in her marriage and how the royal family treated her. She was married to a man who thought it was perfectly normal to have a wife and a mistress at the same time. A mother-in-law that turned a blind eye to the situation. A grandmother-in-law who supported her grandsons careless and damaging actions, and a family that was pretty cold. On top of all of that, Diana was dealing with a woman that wanted her husband so badly that she help ruin her own family, hurt her children and made them look bad because she wanted to be the future consort.

Diana made her own mistakes and had some affairs too. I never said that Diana was an angle sent from above but she was dealing with one old, stuffy and ignorant family in those days and I can't blame her for hitting them below the belt when she got a chance.

 

[Ish]

You must not really be reading what anyone's saying then, at least not beyond a cursory glance to ensure that we're still not on board with Diana being in the right.

No one is saying Diana should be faulted for naturally drawing attention simply by being younger/more attractive/fresh/whatever. In an instant where Diana "upstaged" someone simply by being herself (or by putting on a public persona and appearing to be the happy person that many believe her to have been) she shouldn't be faulted. She was doing what was natural or seemed right.

That doesn't mean that there weren't instances where she did deliberately go out of her way to try to upstage her husband, his family, or his mistress. That doesn't mean that she wasn't as responsible for the failure of her marriage as her husband was. That doesn't mean that her behaviour during her divorce was reprehensible, indicative of a jealous and mentally unstable woman who was incapable of accepting responsibility for her own part in the demise of said marriage, who tried to crucify her husband for his affair despite having had affairs herself (an with at least one married man), and whose antics drew her private life very much into the public fold despite the fact that doing so was detrimental to her sons and, whether she liked it or not, the family and institution to which they belonged.

 

[Roslyn]

I'm glad Diana spoke out about what was going on in her marriage and how the royal family treated her. She was married to a man who thought it was perfectly normal to have a wife and a mistress at the same time. A mother-in-law that turned a blind eye to the situation. A grandmother-in-law who supported her grandsons careless and damaging actions, and a family that was pretty cold. On top of all of that, Diana was dealing with a woman that wanted her husband so badly that she help ruin her own family, hurt her children and made them look bad because she wanted to be the future consort.

At the time of that conversation with James Gilbey on New Year's Eve 1989 the marriage was one of convenience only. Diana had been on with James Hewitt for three years and was still having an affair with him, though it was winding down, yet Diana couldn't seem to accept that she couldn't have her cake and eat it too. As far as I know, Charles didn't take the boys with him when he went to visit Camilla, but Diana did take them with her when she went to visit James Hewitt and his mother. And I take issue with the suggestion that Camilla wanted to be the future consort, because I believe she had no such intention; that, to the contrary, Camilla was content to keep things the way they were, but this thread is not one for discussion of the paramours in detail.

As I see it, the marriage was over by the time Diana took up with Hewitt. I don't begrudge her finding happiness with him or anyone else, just as I don't begrudge Charles his happiness with Camilla. What I do strongly object to is Diana's hypocrisy, and her "pity me" attitude and blatant attempts to belittle Charles and paint him as the evil and/or incompetent one in order to gain sympathy for herself, and to upstage him and, by extension, the whole Royal Family, which included her own children though it seems that she didn't give that aspect much thought.

 

[Mermaid1962]

Sadly enough, I can believe this.

... but what wasn't a coincidence was the fact she instructed her driver to let her out much further from the entrance so she would have to walk much further than was necessary and thereby give the photographers several extra minutes to photograph her looking absolutely fabulous as she covered the distance, guaranteeing it would be photographs of her that would dominate the next day's papers rather than anything about Charles.

 

[Mermaid1962]

Yes, it was. She was with the Fayeds during Camilla's birthday party, putting on a show for the photographers.

I thought the F U Charles dress was worn when he was giving the interview during which he admitted to the affair.

 

[Mermaid1962]

There was the time she went to Annabelle Elliott's party(her 50th perhaps?) and confronted Camilla in the basement. I hadn't thought about it in this light before, but she did use a celebratory event for her own purpose.

And there was the time she spoke to Tiggy Legge-Bourke at the staff Christmas party. That was what led to Patrick Jephson's resignation. He just couldn't work for her anymore after that, and I don't blame him.

I do kind of question what kind of person would go to a private event, like a birthday or a wedding, and try to upstage the person that the event was in honour of. I'm not saying Diana did this, but if she did to me it's rather distasteful of her.

 

[Dman]

From at I'm reading, everything is pretty much one-sided.

Yes, Diana's behavior was off at times but she wasn't the only one that was doing very shady things. Charles knew that having an affair was not only damaging to the royal family but hurt his children and his wife. He also help drag CPB/DoC family in the mud and made her look bad. When he confessed his adultery on national TV, it made matters worse and even upset CPB's father and he stop speaking to Charles for a while after that.

Charles tried his best to hurt Diana. When he fell and broke his arm, it was his wife that wanted to go home with him to Highgrove and help take care of him. Instead he already had his mistress there to surprise Diana and made her leave in floods of tears. Charles would yell at Diana in the presence of his children and leave her to lock herself in the bathroom to cry.

Charles is the most well prepared King-in-waiting there is and he has done an outstanding job in his charity work and with his charitable trust but his careless and heartless actions in the late 80's and early 90's nearly brought down the very institution he was born to someday lead. He's managed to marry the woman that help cause his first wife so much heartache and pain, many don't think he's fit to be King. I beg to differ on that but my goodness he has an ugly past too.

 

[Roslyn]

Yes, it was. She was with the Fayeds during Camilla's birthday party, putting on a show for the photographers.

Oh, yes! The leopard-skin print swimsuit on the diving board.

 

[Roslyn]

From at I'm reading, everything is pretty much one-sided.

It is a very divisive issue and people tend to have strong views.

Yes, Diana's behavior was off at times but she wasn't the only one that was doing very shady things. Charles knew that having an affair was not only damaging to the royal family but hurt his children and his wife. He also help drag CPB/DoC family in the mud and made her look bad. When he confessed his adultery on national TV, it made matters worse and even upset CPB's father and he stop speaking to Charles for a while after that.

I just cannot see what Charles was doing that was shady. Accepting that there had been an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage but that at that time everyone believed there was no hope of divorce, what was Charles to do? Charles was discreet. He was not the first one to go into print and air the dirty laundry in public, that was Diana.

Charles tried his best to hurt Diana. When he fell and broke his arm, it was his wife that wanted to go home with him to Highgrove and help take care of him. Instead he already had his mistress there to surprise Diana and made her leave in floods of tears. Charles would yell at Diana in the presence of his children and leave her to lock herself in the bathroom to cry.

Charles broke his arm in June 1990. Why on earth at that stage would he want Diana to be the one to go home with him and take care of him? The relationship was a mess by then. Diana was miserable that Hewitt hadn't put her first but chose to go where his career took him and I am fairly sure - relying on memory here - that their relationship was over by then. I'm not sure whether she had anyone else at the time. Diana should have stayed away from him if she didn't want him yelling.

 

[Mermaid1962]

I have a recurring dream that Diana comes back, having not really died, and she and Prince Charles have decided to make a go of it again. (Of course, in this dream, he hasn't remarried.) So here I am, over 50 years old, and must be in some way wishing that it hadn't all worked out as it did...especially with the death of a young mother. I was in denial about Diana until the last couple of years of her life. I kept wishing and hoping that she'd "smarten up": either make up with Prince Charles (before the divorce) or find a nice bachelor or widower and settle down (after the divorce). She was my idol during the 80s and early 90s. However, by the mid-90s, I had become very disappointed. Until she admitted adultery in the Panorama interview, she had plausible deniability about her affairs. Up to that point, I'd given her the moral high ground. The other thing about the Panorama interview was that I sensed, during the second part of the interview, that she had some real emotional problems. There was something in her tone that belied her supposed victimhood. She thought that she was better at being Royal than other people in the Royal Family, which I don't believe was true. The Squidgygate quote about "the ******* family" rather shocked me. It was coarse and vulgar and not worthy of a Princess of Wales. I understand that she went through her periods of depression and through sadness because of her marriage breakdown, but that's no reason to carry on with lovers or speak like a fish-wife about the family that made her a British Princess. She could have handled things differently. She could have made different choices. She had gifts of empathy and compassion that even those she treated badly admit to. Ken Wharfe and Patrick Jephson come to mind.

 

[Dman]

So it was acceptable for Charles to have an affair with a married woman and not seek marriage counseling to at least try to put his marriage and family back together? or at least try to help calm the situation down and try to end things peacefully and respectfully? It was acceptable for Charles to bring a great deal of chaos to the royal family and bad PR to it's image?

Although the marriage wasn't in the best condition, it was right for Charles to have his mistress waiting for him and to help him heal, all while his wife was concerned and wanted to go home and look after him?

I guess saintly and holy Charles did nothing wrong and Diana was the evil and destructive one the whole time. Wow, I thought I had heard it all but apparently I haven't.

 

[Mermaid1962]

Of course not. I have been disappointed in Prince Charles as well. I'll never look at him in quite the same way again. They both acted badly and I have continuing concerns about the Prince of Wales. I think that part of me feels sad about what could have been.

So it was acceptable for Charles to have an affair with a married woman and not seek marriage counseling to at least try to put his marriage and family back together? or at least try to help calm the situation down and try to end things peacefully and respectfully? It was acceptable for Charles to bring a great deal of chaos to the royal family and bad PR to it's image?

 

[Dman]

Of course not. I have been disappointed in Prince Charles as well. I'll never look at him in quite the same way again. They both acted badly and I have continuing concerns about the Prince of Wales. I think that part of me feels sad about what could have been.

I think it's fair to be fair when talking about Charles & Diana. They weren't perfect and both did things to hurt one another when they were upset about the state of their marriage. In some cases, hurt people hurt people.

I don't think it's fair to go on and on about Diana's shortcomings but no mention of Charles's shortcomings. He too did some dirty work and his actions had a bad effect on the Monarchy too. It took some miracles and good PR work to drag the royal family image out of those dark days of the separation, divorce and tragedy.

I too wish things would've turned out differently but I know Charles & Diana had some good times and some joy with the birth of their children. I like reflecting on that too.

 

[Roslyn]

So it was acceptable for Charles to have an affair with a married woman and not seek marriage counseling to at least try to put his marriage and family back together? or at least try to help calm the situation down and try to end things peacefully and respectfully? It was acceptable for Charles to bring a great deal of chaos to the royal family and bad PR to it's image?

My opinion and comments are based on the assumption that by the time Diana started her relationship with Hewitt, the marriage had irretrievably broken down. Irretrievably broken down means there's no hope of it being put back together again. Counselling would be pointless by that stage, except to try to get them to have an amicable separation. It is my belief that Diana was the one responsible for the chaos, not Charles.

Although the marriage wasn't in the best condition, it was right for Charles to have his mistress waiting for him and to help him heal, all while his wife was concerned and wanted to go home and look after him?

Diana hardly ever went to Highgrove anyway. I understand she didn't like the place much, preferring to be in the city. Why did she want to be there except to stir up trouble? It was Charles' home and the place he felt comfortable and wanted to convalesce. She should have left him to do so on his own terms.

I guess saintly and holy Charles did nothing wrong and Diana was the evil and destructive one the whole time. Wow, I thought I had heard it all but apparently I haven't.

I don't recall anyone here saying Charles was saintly or holy or that Diana was evil and destructive. I do, however, believe the two of them were most unsuited and should never have married, and that Diana's behaviour during the War of the Wales' was far more destructive than Charles'.

 

[Dman]

I really don't think it mattered that Diana wasn't at Highgrove all the time. She had the right to be concerned about her husband and his broken arm. It was her right to want to go home and take care of him. It was CPB that shouldn't have been there in the first place and when Diana arrived, it was CPB that should've left not Diana.

Diana did her dirty work but Charles hands had dirt on it too. The heir to the throne was carrying on with a married woman, who had her own family by the way. Hurting his wife, children and letting down The Queen and rest of the royal family. The people in the UK, Commonwealth and rest of the realms had to wake up and see their future King and future Supreme Governor of The Church of England in the newspapers making a mess of his marriage and putting his wife and children though pain.

Diana's behavior was bad at times but Charles should've known better.

 

[Osipi]

So it was acceptable for Charles to have an affair with a married woman and not seek marriage counseling to at least try to put his marriage and family back together? or at least try to help calm the situation down and try to end things peacefully and respectfully? It was acceptable for Charles to bring a great deal of chaos to the royal family and bad PR to it's image?

Although the marriage wasn't in the best condition, it was right for Charles to have his mistress waiting for him and to help him heal, all while his wife was concerned and wanted to go home and look after him?

I guess saintly and holy Charles did nothing wrong and Diana was the evil and destructive one the whole time. Wow, I thought I had heard it all but apparently I haven't.

By the time that Charles realized that it was needed, it might have been too late. A few have attested to the fact that when she raged, he fled. Perhaps if he got angry and raged at her it'd be different? Good make up sex?

The main point is that sex or mistresses or the M18 or is it another alphabet soup haven't a clue

 

[Roslyn]

I really don't think it mattered that Diana wasn't at Highgrove all the time. She had the right to be concerned about her husband and his broken arm. It was her right to want to go home and take care of him. It was CPB that shouldn't have been there in the first place and when Diana arrived, it was CPB that should've left not Diana.

I do not think that she had the right to impose herself on Charles at Highgrove if he didn't want her there. He was injured and needed to heal. Having an angry, estranged spouse force herself into his space was not going to help the healing process.

Diana did her dirty work but Charles hands had dirt on it too. The heir to the throne was carrying on with a married woman, who had her own family by the way. Hurting his wife, children and letting down The Queen and rest of the royal family. The people in the UK, Commonwealth and rest of the realms had to wake up and see their future King and future Supreme Governor of The Church of England in the newspapers making a mess of his marriage and putting his wife and children though pain.

Diana's behavior was bad at times but Charles should've known better.

I just can't get excited about the fact the heir to the throne was carrying on with a married woman. It wasn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. At times Diana carried on with married men and didn't seem to have much concern for the wives. As I see it, the only reason the Queen and the rest of the RF were hurt by it as much as they were was because Diana chose to talk about it and cause or at least co-operate in a book written about it. Oh, and she gave a TV interview.

What could Charles have done differently after their marriage broke down? Remained celibate while Diana took lovers? Would that be a reasonable thing to expect of him? He resumed his relationship with the woman to whom he is now very happily married. Fair enough, in my opinion.

 

[Osipi]

What could Charles have done differently after their marriage broke down? Remained celibate while Diana took lovers? Would that be a reasonable thing to expect of him? He resumed his relationship with the woman to whom he is now very happily married. Fair enough, in my opinion.

This is probably stupid and looking in hindsight but from I've read and heard, Charles would walk away rather than scream back. TBH that would piss me off too. She hated that.

ETA: we need to remember that the schedule for the POW didn't have time allowed for personal problems

 

[blauerengel]

I'm sure it was a difficult choice for William and Harry. Diana's biggest problem is that she never thought about consequences before she acted. I remember watching the interview and thinking about how her children and Camilla's children felt--but Diana apparently never thought about how the children would feel until it was too late.

I admire and respect Diana for her personality and humanitarian work, but she has done many things that just leave me guessing "what was she thinking?"...
At some times she was acting very impulsive and there were many people who were hurt by her sometimes irrational and thoughtless actions and behaviour. I guess she underestimated the consequences of her revenge on C/C and the courting of the media. The constant fight for media attention and approval was certainly destroying the image of Prince Charles, but it also made her look bad and overshadowed her otherwise very good work-her royal duties and philantrophic efforts.
It seems as if the love of the public and the approval she got from journalists and celebrities was a substitute for the kind of love and attention she has expected to find in her marriage.
The Panorama interview was a big mistake,it destroyed the last bit of respect people had for the BRF and it did backfire on her because she has said a lot of things to make Charles look like a bad father and mean person. I understand her frustration about her failed marriage, but it did not give her permission to act the way she did. She should have talked to a therapist or vented her anger at Charles and Camilla at home,but going public with everything was not the right thing to do. While she told many private things to Andrew Morton and other journalists she still expected the media to leave her alone when she needed "time and space", but unfortunately it does not work that way. When you are a royal figure you have to decide if you keep your private life private or if you give interviews, make photoshoots and talk to your trusted journalist friends. The media attention can´t be switched on and off like you would swith on a light.

IMHO the whole tragedy and suffering could have been avoided if P.Charles had been allowed to marry CPB in the first place, but at that time there was a lot of snobbery and the establishment did not approve of her "background".
It seems as if the BRF has learned from the disaster, I am sure that accepting Catherine was much more easier because they knew what can happen if one applies logical reasons to matters of the heart...

 

[vkrish]

Charles was a reprobate. He kept a mistress and then some of you complain because, Diana, tried to upstage that. Please.

Oooohhhhhh..Hear, hear. Learn,learn.Lessons of morality
His wife was having affairs with a dozen men, but he is a "reprobate" for having one mistress to comfort him..
Then what will you call that divine angel?

Please. The boys love their mother, the previous post is ridiculous. You have no idea what they were told, as they were children. The both include her in everything they do. Kate wears her ring. If they had any problem with her, that would not be so.

Every child loves his mother and father unconditionally.
But when my mom's interview is coming on television, I plead my Housemaster to let me watch it with all my friends, only to see her revealing all intimate details of their marriage, making a scum-bag of my father, and playing a victim, and still admitting her own affair,mocking the institution which gave me and also her our very basic identity, I WILL HATE THAT MOMENT FOREVER.
None of us are sure how many such moments William and Harry have had ..
But again I repeat, I will unconditionally love my mother forever. So do William and Harry..

They love their father. He is a good father. They were young children when all this happened. They, I am sure have their opinions, today. They have never turned their back on their mother. .

Yes. As men of honour they always love their mother unconditionally. And they know far more about their parents marriage than all the self proclaimed judges of morality and fidelity..

I feel sorry for Charles and Camilla

Ooh so kind of you, COUNTESS. But I am afraid your "feeling sorry" is not required. Charles and Camilla are more happy, more mature and much more loved and accepted by family and public.

They were hypocrites and they have cost a great deal to many lives. It is too bad.

Hey did you happen to keep any count of the number of lives they "cost a great deal"..
BTW..If they are hypocrites..Then what is the one who publicly admits affair with james hewitt, and privately has a dozen more affairs, but still counts just "three" in a marriage?
Oh..maybe its not hypocrisy..Poor girl. He tortured her so much that she lost count of numbers beyond three..

Today, thanks, in part to Diana, they have arrived in many ways to being more open and less sacrosanct.

Today, thanks in part to Diana (and also Charles), many people have matured in their idea of marriage...That there is nothing like a fairy-tale wedding, and that you can also have a loving wife even if she is not a gorgeous photogenic stylish blonde diva (same for the opposite sex)..And finally not every word of a woman (or man, but Charles hardly spoke) in a troubled marriage is true..

 

[US Royal Watcher]

This is probably stupid and looking in hindsight but from I've read and heard, Charles would walk away rather than scream back. TBH that would piss me off too. She hated that.

ETA: we need to remember that the schedule for the POW didn't have time allowed for personal problems

I think you are right about Charles walking away. From almost all accounts, he is not a yeller. It is more likely that Diana yelled at Charles in front of the children, not vice versa. Sometimes it is helpful to get some space during an argument, but constant withdrawal can be as destructive and hurtful to a relationship as screaming.

I'm sure Charles froze Diana out at times and there were other times that he could be very cutting. But most of the examples of his coldness to Diana (like the one upthread from Patrick Jephson's book) are post-1986, after the marriage had broke down.

I don't believe that Camilla was waiting at his home after Charles broke his arm, that sounds like another of Diana's "stories." We do know that in 1992, Diana refused to let Charles comfort her when her father died, so even if the Camilla story was true, Diana did the same thing.

I don't think counseling would have saved the marriage at any point. Their biggest problem was that they had nothing in common. Diana hated country life and Charles loved it. The miscommunication about that was squarely Diana's fault. Charles's interests were well documented at that time.

The biggest mistake Charles made was not to explicitly explain to Diana that he was not madly in love with her before the marriage--although she was in such denial, I don't think it would have made any difference.

Finally, I don't think Diana helped the royal family as much as she thought she did. They would have modernized eventually. The process had already started. Charles did fine with crowds and was credited for being a warm person before he met Diana. Compared to Diana, he was cold and distant, but it would have been fine if he had married someone else.

The royal family would have evolved more slowly without all the drama and negative headlines, but they would have evolved. There would have been ups and downs but they wouldn't have been as extreme. The royal family survived the negativity of Diana, so I think the institution would be at least as strong if she had never married into it.

 

[Skippyboo]

If Diana did not marry into the royal family, there is no William and Harry. No royal wedding with Kate and no George. The drama of the nineties paved the way for the happy times of today. Kate's uncle didn't declare that she was a virgin like Diana's uncle did because no one cared.No cared that the future king lived with his future queen before marriage.

 

[Dman]

Just to point out here, Charles & Diana was still very much together at the time he fell off his polo pony and broke his arm in 1990. Although they had their personal problems. As I said before, CPB shouldn't have been at Highgrove to help Charles out. That was Diana's job and CPB should've been the one to leave and look after her own husband, not Diana. CPB was pretty much out of place and should've been ashamed of herself but I'm going to leave that alone because apparently what Charles and CPB was doing was right and Diana was in the wrong the whole time.

Those who are making excusing for Charles's behavior is pretty much in denial. Diana was doing her dirty work too but Charles nearly brought down the monarchy with his very foolish ways in those days. Thank goodness with good PR work and a couple of miracles, he's been able to convince some people that everything was his late wife's fault and that he and his current wife did nothing wrong.

I believe in forgiveness but lets not forget that the future King and Princess Consort past is also dirty and they turned families upside down to get what they wanted.

 

[US Royal Watcher]

If Diana did not marry into the royal family, there is no William and Harry. No royal wedding with Kate and no George. The drama of the nineties paved the way for the happy times of today. Kate's uncle didn't declare that she was a virgin like Diana's uncle did because no one cared.No cared that the future king lived with his future queen before marriage.

Skippyboo, I agree that if Charles hadn't married Diana, there wouldn't have been a William or Harry, but there would have been other children. They would have been different but special in their own ways.

It hasn't been discussed much, but Charles was looking for in a wife who would have also been a good mother. Diana gets most of the credit for William and Harry's common touch, but Charles wanted to raise his children in a different way than he was raised. That is one of the reasons I believe the monarchy would have evolved without Diana and the drama she created. Despite Diana's lies, Charles was a good father and, if he hadn't married Diana, I am sure he would have married a woman who would have been a good mother.

 

[Dman]

Diana was a good mother and she and Charles agreed on raising the boys different than they were raised. After Diana's passing, Charles continued to raise William & Harry the way he and Diana wanted. No one has said that Charles wasn't a good father. Diana never said that either.

Both Charles and Diana created drama within the royal family. It wasn't Diana alone, as some love making it sound like.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

I don't see the problem with Charles walking away from a ranting Diana. It honestly seems like a mature reaction. One person is trying to create a drama and the other refuses to participate. Now I will say he shouldn't have walked away from the convo altogether but returned to it when cooler heads prevailed.