Charles & Camilla: How has your opinion changed since the wedding?

[msleiman]

I must say that Charles seems very happy. I think that camilla brings him all the things that Diana never could - love of outdoor life, love of hores, ect. Don't get me wrong, I really think that Diana was right for the country. She brought all the things that they wanted - fashion, looks, youth ect. I still have to remind myself that Diana was only 18 years old when they met. She was only 19 years old just 28 days before the wedding. This was -in my eyes- just a little girl. She could have never really understood the things that would have been asked of her. I remember when I was 18/19, What I wanted or thought I wanted is very different now. I am happy for Charles and Camilla. I do not follow them or their events alot but it is great that they are happy.

 

[pinkie40]

My ex and his life partner (they live in Philadelphia) had the opportunity to attend several of the events attended by Charles and Camilla during their visit there earlier this year. He has met Prince Charles on many occasions and was delighted to see him in the company of Camilla...finally. He impressed upon me he felt Camilla was just a tad nervous the entire weekend but truly both were radiant and excited to be together. My ex ADORED Diana but understands how Charles could have been drawn to both women. I think my ex has a good perspective in that there is a place in history for both women to be seen as having a made their own mark upon the British Monarchy.

 

[RoyallyRich]

I like Prince Charles.I adored Diana,Princess of Wales.I use to hate Camilla.But,now I don't.I guess as time goes by my opinion changed.I like the Duchess.But I feel so sorry for her.She seems so nervous all the time.It is as if she doesn't want to put a wrong foot foward out of fear of displeasing anyone.I think she is a very nice,shy lady that has gone through rough times.

 

[Liz]

My opinion towards Camilla has softened over the years. Being a huge Diana fan I was never very fond of her, but she appears to make Charles very happy and she really is his soulmate and one true love. Charles deserves to be happy after being unhappily married for so many years. I've always liked Charles and believe he was treated very unfairly by the media during his first marriage. I'm very happy for the both of them.

 

[Russophile]

My opinion hasn't changed there are some people who are just destined to be together. Unfortunately, others got hurt in the process. . . .

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

My opinion has gone from a position of indifference to one of extreme support. I used to care nothing for Camilla, although I appreciated how happy she always made Prince Charles, but did not care anything else about her. Now I just love her. I think she is a delightful woman. I am impressed by her sense of humor and easiness with herself and other people. I like how she behaves, or seems to behave, just as she naturally would instead of trying to "play a part", if you know what I mean. I'm also impressed with her children. I think any woman who produces such confident, self-assured people must be a person of high merit.

 

[COUNTESS]

I am glad they are happy together. There never seemed any point to keeping them apart. On a personal level, I feel that if had this happened in the first place a lot of misery would not have ensued. I don't particularly like them, but I do not know them and really could care less.

 

[Rebafan81]

My opinion, I guess, has also changed as I watch Prince Charles become happier. I think that him and Diana should have never married in the first place, she was too young to understand all that would be required of her and with all her beauty, she was placed in a role that made Charles feel less valued, which I am sure didn't help the marriage. All I care about is that Diana's memory be maintained, her children are happy, and if both can happen with Charles and Camilla being happily married, I am all for it. You can see that Charles is happy and that Camilla doesn't want the spot light, so he can always remain center stage. I just hope that the next generation of Windsor learn from all their parents marriage mistakes.

 

[Vanishing Lady]

I've always liked Camilla, though I didn't approve of her relationship with Charles while he was married to Diana. I was one of those who wished that she and Charles could marry. To me it was obvious that they were very much in love, and not only that, but best friends. So they were a couple and a couple.

It used to bother me a great deal when people would start in on her looks; how superficial. So she wasn't pretty or glamorous like Diana. So she seemed frumpy when put next to the late Princess of Wales -- please, most anyone would look frumpy next to a tall, slender blonde who happens to be the most-photographed woman in the world. Apparently there was something about her that captivated the PoW for over 30 years, even while he was married to another woman (who was WRONG WRONG WRONG for him IMO).

Charles seems lighter, more at ease with himself, less whiny. He also doesn't look like he's just bracing himself for another blow anymore. He is happy with her, his children are comfortable with her and understand that she makes him happy, and that's all that matters.

 

[NotAPretender]

Hmm interesting thread

I think since their marriage, I have gone from finding Camilla to be completely loathsome, to pitying her. I pity her. I pity her for Charles (more on that below) and because she genuinely seems to believe that adultery is appropriate and rewardable behavior. But I pity her more in a manner that is tied to how I now view Charles.

I had the opportunity to very briefly exchange a greeting with the POW at my alma mater and was impressed that he went out of his way to greet my group. I confess a bit of crush, for about a week. I feel that he and Diana had every right to make a go of it and when I see the private pictures of their first months and years of marriage, I realize that yes, there was more than a decent hope that Charles could move beyond his obsession with Camilla, and that Diana could mature from her childhood crush-like love for Charles into a reasoned and loving partnership with him.

Charles, however, once he didn't get his way in molding his wife exactly the way he thought she should behave toward him and her position, went running back to childhood and Mommy - in this case, Mommy is Camilla. For all that Diana is viewed as immature, it seems to me that Charles was equally callow, grabbing for his teddy bear Camilla. Clutching at it despite all rationale and reason. He was the one born into the Firm, not Diana, and the greater burden was on him. Instead, he publicly said that his Daddy said he could screw around on his wife, blaming everyone but the man in the mirror. It was appalling.

I hoped that marrying Camilla would stop the shove-down that he seemed determined to make. Love me, love my dog, he seemed to say. The whole debacle about the memorial service was due entirely to Charles' stubborness, his inability to see beyond his own selfish views of what he wants, and how he wants it. It put his current wife in a terrible position but he was damned if he was going to listen to reason, to advice.

And this is what the Duchess has to deal with. A man who wields power and wealth, who she clearly loves, who will act contrary to decency and contrary to sound boundaries. A boy in a man's body.

Charles hates, hates, hates to be told that he can't have what he wants. And that is the man that Camilla Parker Bowles married. It's his world - she is there as a functionary in it. A treasured functionary, certainly.

Whatever happiness she has, has been purchased dearly. Whatever happiness he has, has been at the expense of the happiness of others, including that of both of his wives and the other parts of their lives.

I'm sure that Camilla has some fine points. But regardless of those, she will remain as a cipher in history, the very symbol of the breakdown of the marriage of Wales. For right or for wrong, that is how she will appear in the history books. A coda, a symptom. I don't know if she cares. Probably not.

 

[iowabelle]

I guess I've mellowed out a bit.

He looks happier. To be honest, I probably would get along better with Camilla than I would have with Diana. And I've developed some sympathy for Camilla. But I do wish the marital triangle/quadrangle/ whatever hadn't happened.

 

[Skydragon]

Charles hates, hates, hates to be told that he can't have what he wants.

Don't we all?

 

[Picmajik]

my opinion has improved

Since the wedding,we have been able to watch closely how charles and camilla are together.You can see from all the pictures and videos of the two of them, how much they love each other and how happy they make each other feel.Charles has become a lot more relaxed since the wedding,and we have camilla to thank for that.She fits her role PERFECTLY and isn't there to outstage her husband,but to just be there for him...the man she loves!

As skydragon said,i don't think Diana would have tolerated the affection William and Harry show Camilla at all.She would have become jealous like she was of the nannies that were paid to look after their boys.I don't mean to disrespect anybody when i say this,but times have changed,people come and people go,and charles and camilla are finally together.William and Harry are happy with the arrangements and as the public are warming to the couple too,it looks like our reign under charles and camilla will be a very strong period.Camilla makes Charles happy,and a happy king makes a good king!

My opinion towards Camilla has softened over the years. Being a huge Diana fan I was never very fond of her, but she appears to make Charles very happy and she really is his soulmate and one true love. Charles deserves to be happy after being unhappily married for so many years. I've always liked Charles and believe he was treated very unfairly by the media during his first marriage. I'm very happy for the both of them.

I have to admit I am more impressed by Camilla than I thought I would be. She's not as glamorous as Diana or other princesses but she appears to be a good, solid Duchess of Cornwall, not out to slam the monarchy or make her own headlines or trying to win a popularity contest. I loved Diana at first also but I got tired of the media games being played out just to sell papers as to who did what and where. I am glad to see a happy, mature couple who support each other and have pride in each other. Charles certainly seems relaxed and mature in his role as I had seen in earlier interviews with the POW solo before things fell apart with Diana. (I am not taking sides or rehashing that triangle.) I hope things continue to work out for them and they enjoy what should be their golden years together.
only snarky comment--a makeover would be nice but then again, what's wrong with a lady who's confident and comfortable with who she is? I know I'm not using botox no matter what any one else's opinion would be.

 

[diamondBrg]

I like Camilla a great deal and have tremendous respect for her. I think she is an ideal mate for Prince Charles and I personally hope that she does become Queen someday.

 

[Vanishing Lady]

I'm sure that Camilla has some fine points. But regardless of those, she will remain as a cipher in history, the very symbol of the breakdown of the marriage of Wales. For right or for wrong, that is how she will appear in the history books. A coda, a symptom. I don't know if she cares. Probably not.

Read your entire post, mulled it over. You express most eloquently what I've been thinking the more I read and hear about the Cornwall's past relationship and the PoW's personality.

I wouldn't say that she doesn't care, but she probably has come to terms with how history will look at her. I also feel that history will also see her as the used...she was used by both sides of the Wales marriage debacle...used by Charles as a "teddy bear", as you say, and used by Diana as an excuse to get back at her husband and the institution into which she should NEVER have married.

I think Camilla may have resigned herself to the fact that she won't get a fair historical hearing, but then, who does?

 

[Al_bina]

I think since their marriage, I have gone from finding Camilla to be completely loathsome, to pitying her.

I am impressed with your analysis of relationships of the parties in question. The place of Duchess of Cornwall in the history is and will be determined by her current status with a minimal shadow of the controversial past. It might be fair to presume that such trivial thing as "how she will appear in the history books" does not bother Duchess of Cornwall much. Why should it poison her life right now? No obvious reasons...

 

[sirhon11234]

I think since their marriage, I have gone from finding Camilla to be completely loathsome, to pitying her.

Great post I agree with you 100%. I also used to loathe Camilla but now I feel very sorry for her for marrying a sorry excuse of a man like Charles. I respect the fact that she is trying to reinvent her image but she would always be remembered as the mistress who married the prince.

 

[diamondBrg]

Great post I agree with you 100%. I also used to loathe Camilla but now I feel very sorry for her for marrying a sorry excuse of a man like Charles. I respect the fact that she is trying to reinvent her image but she would always be remembered as the mistress who married the prince.

Well there is one fact that is irrefutable. The Duchess of Cornwall was able to do one thing that Diana could never do, that is win the heart and soul of the Prince of Wales. Camilla most assuredly bested Diana in that regard.

 

[Al_bina]

An opinion of a passive/aggressive child under the age of 10

Well there is one fact that is irrefutable. The Duchess of Cornwall was able to do one thing that Diana could never do, that is win the heart and soul of the Prince of Wales. Camilla most assuredly bested Diana in that regard.

Considerably improved status is not a bad payment for surpassing an unlucky wife …

 

[sirhon11234]

Well there is one fact that is irrefutable. The Duchess of Cornwall was able to do one thing that Diana could never do, that is win the heart and soul of the Prince of Wales. Camilla most assuredly bested Diana in that regard.

Well that is the only thing she has bested the Princess of Wales at.

 

[diamondBrg]

Well that is the only thing she has bested the Princess of Wales at.

Really? Well she has continued to act like a lady and make prudent decisions for her life and social companions, so she is still alive, Diana is not. She will at the very least be the wife of a King, should Charles out live his mother and most likely he will, if not Queen and that grows more likely with each passing day. So it seems she has Diana's husband, titles and with all reports that I have read even Diana's sons are quite fond of her. Seems to me like she got everything that was really important.

 

[ysbel]

Well if there was a contest between who was more childish and self-absorbed, Charles and Diana during their marriage would have tied each other very easily.

Both of them wanted the other to revolve their life around them and I'm not so impressed with the argument that somehow Diana's childishness and self-absorption was more excusable than Charles'.

Camilla differs from both Diana and Charles in that she is less self-absorbed and Charles seems to have had luck with Camilla that Diana was not able to find with her lovers. Diana's lovers were all as childish and self-absorbed as she was. But that was relatively evident from the beginning so that part of my opinion of Camilla hasn't changed.

I wish they had showed more backbone and continued on with the plan of Camilla's attending Diana's memorial service but overall that is the only change of opinion I have of Camilla over the years.

 

[Skydragon]

Well there is one fact that is irrefutable. The Duchess of Cornwall was able to do one thing that Diana could never do, that is win the heart and soul of the Prince of Wales. Camilla most assuredly bested Diana in that regard.

Yes and of course the hearts of the people who did not like his first wife at all!

 

[sirhon11234]

Really? Well she has continued to act like a lady and make prudent decisions for her life and social companions, so she is still alive, Diana is not. She will at the very least be the wife of a King, should Charles out live his mother and most likely he will, if not Queen and that grows more likely with each passing day. So it seems she has Diana's husband, titles and with all reports that I have read even Diana's sons are quite fond of her. Seems to me like she got everything that was really important.

Yes she may have Diana's old titles and worthless husband and so what wills and harry are fond of her but they love their mother more. And Camilla will never have the fame, adoration,beauty, and magnetism towards the people like Diana did.

 

[ysbel]

Oh dear, I hope we're not starting a battle of my princess is better than your princess. That is so boring and fights over who is the better princess can get quite nasty.

If I want violent action, I'll stick to mixed martial arts.

 

[diamondBrg]

Yes she may have Diana's old titles and worthless husband and so what wills and harry are fond of her but they love their mother more. And Camilla will never have the fame, adoration,beauty, and magnetism towards the people like Diana did.

And what you just described is precisely what was wrong with Diana and what caused so much consternation and havoc within her marriage to the Prince of Wales, she wanted to be a movie star, not a member of the Royal Family and Queen to a reigning King. Had she not married the Prince of Wales, who would have ever paid the poor little thing any attention? To be perfectly honest, she was slender, yes, but in my personal opinion, far from beautiful. She was blonde and blue eyed which are both desirable traits, but her face was common. About the best thing she portrayed was a person well equipped to engender pity and sympathy, which she used repeatedly in her war with the Royal Family.

Perhaps Camilla actually wants to be a part of Prince Charles's life and not just use him as a stepping stone to her own glory?

 

[diamondBrg]

Oh dear, I hope we're not starting a battle of my princess is better than your princess. That is so boring and fights over who is the better princess can get quite nasty.

If I want violent action, I'll stick to mixed martial arts.

I cross posted with you, I am sorry. I will move on to another subject. I just tired of the Duchess of Cornwall being used as a "whipping boy" by some.

 

[Skydragon]

Oh dear, I hope we're not starting a battle of my princess is better than your princess. That is so boring and fights over who is the better princess can get quite nasty.

If I want violent action, I'll stick to mixed martial arts.

They each had their own good and bad points, as we all know. I'll send you a bottle of Arnica to deal with your bruises though!

 

[sirhon11234]

And what you just described is precisely what was wrong with Diana and what caused so much consternation and havoc within her marriage to the Prince of Wales, she wanted to be a movie star, not a member of the Royal Family and Queen to a reigning King. Had she not married the Prince of Wales, who would have ever paid the poor little thing any attention? To be perfectly honest, she was slender, yes, but in my personal opinion, far from beautiful. She was blonde and blue eyed which are both desirable traits, but her face was common. About the best thing she portrayed was a person well equipped to engender pity and sympathy, which she used repeatedly in her war with the Royal Family.

Perhaps Camilla actually wants to be a part of Prince Charles's life and not just use him as a stepping stone to her own glory?

Really she wanted to be a moviestar I would think she would have been in a movie before her death. And she didn't run after fame it ran after her.

And what destryoed their marriage incapability and mistrust. My apologies once again ysabel.

 

[ysbel]

OK now that we have that out of our system, let's move on.

No more princess battles or else these forums with have to come equipped with plates of armour.

ysbel
British forum moderator