"The Duchess: The Untold Story" by Penny Junor (2017) [Duchess of Cornwall]


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Thank you Dman. So this, IMO, very bad idea for a book, is to be published on June 29th, as a riposte, no doubt, to the 20th anniversary of Diana's death (and presumably the two documentaries on her death and funeral, to be participated in by her sons.) How very very interesting, and calculated.
The whole sorry mess of the War of the Wales's ripped open again.
 
I've never bought into the eternal love of Charles and Camilla, simply because Charles was involved with far too many other women to make it plausible that she was his one true love.

After his marriage imploded, I believe he did turn to an old friend-Camilla- for comfort.
And now, they are comfortable with one another and seem well-suited.
But I don't see it as some sort of destined love.

(For what it's worth, I do think Anne would be happily married to Andrew Parker-Bowles had things fallen out differently. They are still constant companions).
But what-ifs are always counter-productive, and the truth may never be known.
 
I'm with you on this one Mirabel.


LaRae
 
I've never bought into the eternal love of Charles and Camilla, simply because Charles was involved with far too many other women to make it plausible that she was his one true love.

After his marriage imploded, I believe he did turn to an old friend-Camilla- for comfort.
And now, they are comfortable with one another and seem well-suited.
But I don't see it as some sort of destined love.

(For what it's worth, I do think Anne would be happily married to Andrew Parker-Bowles had things fallen out differently. They are still constant companions).
But what-ifs are always counter-productive, and the truth may never be known.

No, but that's been part of the PR campaign. To make it seem like this is the greatest and most triumphant love story of all time. A lot of it is pretty much crapola. Although, many (including me) are very happy that the two are doing very well together.
 
I don't see a love story I see a lot of people forgetting their vows and causing pain along the way. Bringing the needed young virgin into that group was pathetic.
 
I agree with Mirabel...well to some extent.

IMO because Charles was dating other women, he wasn't too sure of his initial feelings for Camilla, and was going to use his time away [i.e. being at sea with the navy] to make a decision. That's why he asked her to wait for him, which we all knew she didn't. I think he was starting to fall in love with her but knew that her past would be an issue. Plus she had Andrew on the side. She knew her past would be an issue that's why she didn't take his love for her seriously.

I think she truly loved Andrew [who doesn't love the bad boy] and during the early years of the Parker Bowles marriage, Charles and Camilla were just truly good friends. If Andrew had behaved properly and no other marital issues being an 'issue.' Charles and Camilla would have never turned to each other when they both started having issues with their spouses.

The love they have now is a mature kind of love...not that kind that you have when you are young...unicorns and rainbows, etc. This mature love is one of friendship, attraction to your spouse as well as companionship.
 
oh dear the pro camilla spin in full swing, is this really necessary? the less people hear about the war of the waleses again the better.
i thought that camilla had already neutralized her position with people, she'll never be loved but doesnt need to. i feel this kind of coverage will make the public mood into negativity again.
this may be a love story but it goes along with a lot of hurt and betrayal.
 
Here we go agaaaaaaaaaain (heavy sigh).
Totally unecessary and let's say wrong timing. BUT it's the DM not the Times.
BUT
It's always a bit interesting to see a different side of that story. The Diana's eulogy is sometimes so unreal that a counterstory must be told (they published the tapes from Morton for Pete's sake, hardly some king of unbiased material). I really doubt that the public will buy it though. First because the vast majority doesn't care, second because some people are too stuck with their fanatism to accept some king of new facts.
So as i said, totally unecessary.
Fed up with all this crap, and we are not yet in August...
Gosh the summer will be looooooooong.
 
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I don't know if Camilla has anyting to do with this book but its possible that Junor who is a fan of hers, sees this as a good time to write about her, when she and Chas are nearly 70 and getting closer to the "king and Queen" stage of life. And Cam's friends are problaby willing to talk, MAYBE she has given them the nod to do so.. or at least not dissuaded them. however I think that it is a mistake, fi she has.. because I think that she has gotten to a stage with the public that she's considered OK. She and C have been married over 10 years. She's generally liked when she does engagements.. and people seem to take to her. So she has IMO overcome her low point and will be liked if not loved, as queen. But this book re hashing her affair with Charles, special pleading for "Her" side of things.. is problaby only going to raise the hackles of people who are not too fond of her, and have a bad knock on effect.
 
I am also in agreement with Mirabel. The relationship that Charles and Camilla have today took years to develop and grow. It had many different levels before "I dos" were stated at the altar. The two of them went through various stages of their lives, the good and the bad and the warts and all, before ending up together as spouses and to be honest, because of the various things they've gone through, they've really gotten to know each other inside out and backwards and it works.

Camilla, today, is even on very good terms with Andrew Parker-Bowles and I imagine, that if Diana had lived, Charles and her would have come to an amicable, working arrangement as it seemed they were heading that way when she died.

I do think its very important to be best friends first of all heading into a marriage. Maybe part of that is being there as a best friend for someone as they go through the ups and downs of life and need someone to lean on. That's a wonderful quality to have in a spouse.

I don't see rushing right out to get any book written on Camilla. Personally, I think it would have been best to not rehash the "olden days" at all. No good ever really comes from opening up old wounds. To open them up for people that have no business knowing about it makes it worse. Perhaps the book will be a fair and well balanced biography. Perhaps when its on sale for cheap I'll find out. Until then, its not going to bother me not to be reading it.
 
:previous:

These authors make a great deal of money reopening old wounds. Look at what they're doing to Diana. It's always about money.
 
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I don't see a love story I see a lot of people forgetting their vows and causing pain along the way. Bringing the needed young virgin into that group was pathetic.

That "young virgin" herself soon forgot her own solemn vows anyway...

More or less it all seems to boil down to Lord Louis Mountbatten, the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who thought Camilla -however impressed with her charm as well- was "not sufficiently aristocratic" to marry The Prince of Wales.

From her mother's side Camilla certainly has "posh enough" ancestry with the Barons Ashcombe, the Earls of Albemarle, the Baronets Edmonstone, the Lords Keppel and the clan MacNab.

It remains a "what if?" question. What if Lord Louis had said to his protégé Charles: "go for it!".
 
Camilla was deeply in love with Andrew Parker Bowles at the time, in spite of his wandering eye. According to Penny Junor, who apparently knows all about it, she was determined to marry him. She also had a 'past' (ex lovers/ boyfriends) which put her in the 'unsuitable' category.
 
I think when it came down to it, Charles was just too indecisive and IIRC he was the same about Diana...the difference is the very public/media interest in Diana and his father telling him to 'fish or cut bait' as it were....if there'd of been less pressure I think his relationship with Diana would of gone the same way as the one with Camilla.


LaRae
 
Its very possible too that with both Camilla and Charles being on the young side during the "sexual revolution" of the 60s, both of them could easy state at the time "whatever in love means". :D

Perhaps Camilla, herself, was in a quandary. She was dating both Andrew and Charles at the same time. Andrew was dashing and debonair and Charles was a relationship more at the emotional level. I don't know. It could be that the dashing and debonair won out over the emotional. I do know that the Parker-Bowles marriage was more of the aristocratic open and discreet kind and with that, Camilla was able to explore the emotional relationship with Charles (at different levels) while still having the dashing and debonair Andrew.

It just so happens that in the end, the emotional bond between Charles and Camilla won out.
 
Charles , Camila , kanga etc etc Andrew Anne it's a wonder they could keep up with all the carrying on
And not discreet if everyone knew what was happening
 
Thank you Dman. So this, IMO, very bad idea for a book, is to be published on June 29th, as a riposte, no doubt, to the 20th anniversary of Diana's death (and presumably the two documentaries on her death and funeral, to be participated in by her sons.) How very very interesting, and calculated.
The whole sorry mess of the War of the Wales's ripped open again.
Camilla's birthday is July 17, she is turning 70 this year. Some consider it an awkward coincidence that Camilla's milestone birthdays coincide with milestone anniversaries of Diana's death while others don't consider it a coincidence since Diana instigated the tip offs to the press that resulted in her ill-fated romance with Dodi Fayed becoming public with one of her motivations believed to be to eclipse the a highly publicized 50th birthday celebration for Camilla spearheaded by Charles.
 
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This book is to be released two days before Diana's birthday, which was July Ist. Penny Junor's book seems to be concentrating on Charles and Camilla's love affair which will inevitably bring back the time of the War of the Wales's again to public notice, especially as the book is being serialised in the DM.
 
:previous: The release date is two days before what would have been Diana's 56th birthday and two weeks before Camilla's 70th birthday.

Your original comment used words like "calculated" and "riposte" and ties it to the 20th anniversary of Diana's death not her 56th birthday. I see why that thought would cross someone's mind but then with the added information that it is also a milestone birthday of Camilla's then I don't think the assertion that this book or any additional attention that Camilla is going to get in the coming weeks is an attempt to ride on the coattails of (or deflect from) the media attention relating to the 20th anniversary of Diana's death.
 
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I took the time and actually read the serialization of the book in the Fail. One thing of note is that Junor gets her information from family and friends of Camilla and Charles and a lot of what I read, was already known publicly.

Junor's style is to neither glorify or denigrate those that she writes about and I do have to admit that the Parker-Bowles had quite an interesting marriage. At the time too of Camilla and Charles' budding romance, for many reasons, they both knew that marriage as an outcome was not in the books. Same with Andrew PB's romance with Anne.

From what I've read (so far), there is no playing a blame game against anyone discussed in the book. It is an interesting foray into the very different, and oftentimes difficult, twists and turns that royal romances can and do take.

We do know now though that regardless of the past, the ending is a happily ever after one. That's what really counts. Rocky roads and potholes and detours all play a part as they do in the lives of anyone.
 
I am also in agreement with Mirabel. The relationship that Charles and Camilla have today took years to develop and grow.
Camilla, today, is even on very good terms with Andrew Parker-Bowles and I imagine, that if Diana had lived, Charles and her would have come to an amicable, working arrangement as it seemed they were heading that way when she died.

.
I think that is optimistic about Charles and Di. Maybe in time they would have gotten to some kind of relationship but I'm not sure it would have happened too soon. but I agree about Chas and Camilla. I think that they have grown gradually into a deeper friendship and love as the years went by. He loved her when she was young but it was probably an immature love and she then loved Andrew. I think that Charles was too young then to marry and knew it, but he did have a deep feeling for Camilla, I think she was always special and when she married Andrew, he couldn't let go of her completely. And she remained fond of him but settled with the man she loved and believed would be the right husband for her. But I think over time she did grow disillusioned with the womanising and neglect.. and within a few years she turned to Charles as a lover because he was giving her the atteniton she wanted, form her man. and they grew into a more passionate love but Chas knew that he had to get married and tried to cool the Camilla friendship down to just friendship.
I think that Camilla now has a good friendship with her ex, he and she had a friendship as well as a marriage, and when they both settled down iwht other people, they were able to resume that good friendship and see their grandchildren etc with pleasure and be friendly with each other.
but while I would like to read A book about Camilla, I think the timing isn't that great. It is her 70th birthday true but it could look like having a go at Diana's memory, and justifying her own faults at the time of the marriage.. at the time of Di's 56th birthday... and the 20th Anniversary of her death.
Camilla, by and large has been of the "don't complain, don't explain" school, and I tihnk that has served her well. Charles did some PR for her, true but overall Camilla didn't talk to the press or complain about the past and just married Charles and got into her royal job, and in doing that, quietly, she won approval from the public, bit by bit..
If she authorised or smiled on a book at this time, it could be glossed as re fighting the war of the Waleses when it has now been over..
 
Just a friendly suggestion here but sometimes with a long post, it is much easier to read if it is broken down into paragraphs instead of running all together. Then again, my eyes ain't what they used to be.

I don't think with Charles, it was a case of being too young to marry but rather that Charles knew with Camilla, just like Andrew PB did with Anne, there were huge obstacles standing in the way of marriage called royal expectations and royal protocol and royal rulings. Anne never could have married Andrew for the simple fact that he was Roman Catholic.

I definitely do think people are putting more stress on the Diana angle than needs to be. Its Camilla's 70th birthday. She's been a wonderful consort for Charles since they've married and people are wanting to know about the "real" Camilla and not just her involvement with Charles during his marriage to Diana.

On the point of Charles and Camilla sanctioning this Junor book, I have no clue. Perhaps someone else could fill in those blanks?
 
sorry I agre that is not one of my best typing efforts.. but my keyboard is getting old!
I agree, thing is there were a LOT of reasons why Camilla and Chas werent going ot get married back in the 70s. She wasn't "quite" grand enough, (many of his girlfriends DID have courtesty titles).
And Camilla was average looking.. so she wasn't a great beauty...
She had a sexual past, so that meant she really would have trouble getting approved of.
And I think that Charles was young.. Again, I think the queen would have been a bit dubious about him getting wed at - 25. Philip too would problaby say "Play the field a bit more son, and don't tie yourself down too early".
but Perhaps Chas knew that even though he was young and he knew that Camilla's past would count against her..and that she was in love with Andrew PB, she was the girl he really really loved...
 
Camilla's birthday is July 17, she is turning 70 this year. Some consider it an awkward coincidence that Camilla's milestone birthdays coincide with milestone anniversaries of Diana's death while others don't consider it a coincidence since Diana instigated the tip offs to the press that resulted in her ill-fated romance with Dodi Fayed becoming public with one of her motivations believed to be to eclipse the a highly publicized 50th birthday celebration for Camilla spearheaded by Charles.

I think this is a very insightful post- there are a couple ways to see this.

I do think it is unfortunate that some people (the author, publisher, etc) decided this was a good time to publish this book. I believe Penny Junor is a big Charles supporter but how she thinks it is helpful to him or his current wife to stir this all up again I do not understand. I doubt it will sway people who still dislike Charles and Camilla for the affair, even if the whole situation was more complex than that.
 
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It very well may be that Penny Junor is a huge Charles supporter but I'm tending to believe that her editors and her publishers would much rather look at the timing of the release in relationship to raking in the green dollars.

Although Junor has quite a bit of say over the material in her books, she also has to work with other people that are primarily focused on the sales of the book moreso than its contents.

Its a primary reason, for example, why many producers and directors aim to release their movies around Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays where they would be more apt to draw in larger crowds buying tickets. :D
 
It very well may be that Penny Junor is a huge Charles supporter but I'm tending to believe that her editors and her publishers would much rather look at the timing of the release in relationship to raking in the green dollars.
I agree that this is the real reason for the release date.
 
oh dear the pro camilla spin in full swing, is this really necessary? the less people hear about the war of the waleses again the better.
i thought that camilla had already neutralized her position with people, she'll never be loved but doesnt need to. i feel this kind of coverage will make the public mood into negativity again.
this may be a love story but it goes along with a lot of hurt and betrayal.
It is the usual clumsy attempt to gauge The Duchess' of Cornwall popularity among subjects. It is unclear what the Clarence House tries to achieve.
 
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One should not be surprised about the pro-Camilla spin. It is the usual clumsy PR from the British royals.

Personally, I don't think that the BRF PR teams have anything to do with the book or any of her books. She's written a lot of books with a large portion of those being dedicated to the British royal family members.
 
Personally, I don't think that the BRF PR teams have anything to do with the book or any of her books. She's written a lot of books with a large portion of those being dedicated to the British royal family members.
Ms Junor is a journalist. I happen to regard all journalists as people with lower social responsibility. It would be impossible to determine if the BRF PR team gives any recommendations to supine mass media. That is all.
 
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