Jo of Palatine
Heir Apparent
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2006
- Messages
- 3,323
- City
- Munich
- Country
- Germany
Exactly my point. Dimbley is an excellent source for Charles' side, not for the entire story. I don't fault Charles for wanting to put something out in the public that showed his side after all that was written by the Diana camp, but I still think that it is unrealistic to think that the Dimbley book presents the whole picture. Charles had a need for good PR too just as Diana did and, at that time especially, a definite need to paint himself as a sympathetic character. It doesn't mean that I think what was written in there was not true, just not the entire story.
No, it isn't the whole story, but I've followed Charles since I was a young girl myself and read all available books about him (Holden, Junor etc.) and the picture all these authors paint of him is very similar to that Dimbleby presents, only Dimbleby had a much better access to private papers, diaries etc. So while I understand a lot of Diana's reactions I think it was her mental problems which at one point made it impossible to reach her.
It's not like Charles and diana started out like most couples, they were not free to create their future life but as the situation was Diana either fit in with Charles' position or not. There was not much he could do and I think as much as he could he did. But Diana was wrong for the position, the wrong "consort" in a world more and more fixed on celebrity cult, she was as needy as he was (and Dimbleby is very open about that, too!) and thus they were doomed. But she could have gone quietly accepting that once their marriage broke down, he was still going to be the Heir to the throne and she his ex-wife. But she had other ideas and thus damaged the monarchy with her wish to prove that it isn't the Blood Royal that counts - which destroys the whole basis of a herediary monarchy.