ysbel
Heir Apparent , TRF Author
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- Jul 26, 2005
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I started following the British Royals around the marriage of Princess Anne in 1973 and I agree with agatha, Camilla was hardly mentioned in the 70s.
Lady Jane Wellesley was the most talked about girlfriend I remember and then of course there was the Knatchbull girl.
But I think that in the early 70s both Charles and his sister Anne were dealing with expectations that they would make a royal match. Before her engagement was announced, Princess Anne expressed distaste at being matched up with a suitable royal foreign prince and it does seem that she was introduced to Carl Gustaf while he was still Crown Prince of Sweden in hopes of a royal match. Charles claimed that while he knew it was better to marry a princess because they knew what the job entailed, he'd rather marry an English girl. Of course, Camilla, Lady Jane, Amanda Knatchbull, and Diana all fit that description of an English girl so Charles didn't give any clue as to what type of English girl he preferred.
The open dating with Lady Jane lasted I believe two years so it was the lengthiest pre-marriage dating Charles did that I heard of. I don't know what went wrong there. I heard different things about the breakup. The standard line was that she was too independent to fit in with the royal family but one did hear that she got a sense of what the job would entail and turned it down while still having a lot of affection for Charles himself. In fact I think she has never married and she and Charles have remained good friends throughout all this time.
I did hear Andrew Parker-Bowles was a man with whom women fell passionately in love with. I think Princess Anne fell in love passionately with him too before she met Mark Phillips and Anne is known for having a lot of common sense. So Camilla or any other woman falling over him doesn't surprise me.
Lady Jane Wellesley was the most talked about girlfriend I remember and then of course there was the Knatchbull girl.
But I think that in the early 70s both Charles and his sister Anne were dealing with expectations that they would make a royal match. Before her engagement was announced, Princess Anne expressed distaste at being matched up with a suitable royal foreign prince and it does seem that she was introduced to Carl Gustaf while he was still Crown Prince of Sweden in hopes of a royal match. Charles claimed that while he knew it was better to marry a princess because they knew what the job entailed, he'd rather marry an English girl. Of course, Camilla, Lady Jane, Amanda Knatchbull, and Diana all fit that description of an English girl so Charles didn't give any clue as to what type of English girl he preferred.
The open dating with Lady Jane lasted I believe two years so it was the lengthiest pre-marriage dating Charles did that I heard of. I don't know what went wrong there. I heard different things about the breakup. The standard line was that she was too independent to fit in with the royal family but one did hear that she got a sense of what the job would entail and turned it down while still having a lot of affection for Charles himself. In fact I think she has never married and she and Charles have remained good friends throughout all this time.
I did hear Andrew Parker-Bowles was a man with whom women fell passionately in love with. I think Princess Anne fell in love passionately with him too before she met Mark Phillips and Anne is known for having a lot of common sense. So Camilla or any other woman falling over him doesn't surprise me.