C&C love story - the early days

[agatha1939]

I want to ask a question for the members who may understand more about C&C story. I have read several times here that Charles wanted to marry Camilla in the 70’s but was not allowed. Is that true? I am asking that because when I talked to my grandma, who is 100% obsessed with the Royal Family and seems to know everything about them – she told me that in the coverage of the 70’s, at the time, Camilla was never really heard of by the press except in passing as a "friend." And that the ones that Charles appeared serious about back then were NOT Camilla but: Anna Wallace (whom Charles was said to be head over heels about and who turned him down); Lady Jane Wellesley whom Charles was photographed with often and also dropped him; then Amanda Knatchbull turned him down. It seems Davina Sheffield was a serious contender but was dropped when a former boyfriend said he lived with her.

Anyway, it’s my grandma’s opinion that Camilla was never even CONSIDERED as wife material. I checked all the old magazines and books that we have and the only pictures I found of Charles and Camilla back then was the famous one under the tree and a "night on the town" for Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Parker Bowles and Prince Charles. And in ALL the mainstream books, even Charles' authorized biography; I never read Charles was forbidden to marry Camilla. Plus, Camilla wanted to marry APB, didn’t she? I thought she was in love with APB (but maybe I am wrong about that).

I am not trying to start a fight here about “evil Camilla”, this is a serious question and I just want to understand C&C story better back then. The official version is that they met in the 70’s, fell madly in love with each other, were forbidden to marry and then separated. However, everything that I read – and I am not talking about trash tabloids now, but mainstream articles from the 70’s, before paparazzi and yellow press – seem to show that it is a myth that Charles was turned down and was even seriously considering her as wife.

So, what is the truth?
(Or, the closest of the truth, since we may never know exactly how things really happened...)

Thanks!