Since we're dumping on Charles, I'll play devil's advocate for a bit. What if this is William and Harry's intended revenge against Camilla for her sins against their precious mother. We have to remember that Diana filled their heads with stories about Camilla and Charles when they were at an impressionable age. As hard as they tried, they may not have been able to overcome the psychological trauma caused by their parents' fighting and arguing and their mother's neuroses. The princes may have foreseen this outcome to the memorial service... Diana mania at its best.
That would be an unfortunate explanation.
I just can't think so ill of them. It is a question of a balancing act between the love for a dead mother and the love of their living father which in this case is not always compatible. Charles has been a good father to them, especially after Diana's death. Of course they are going to want to please him. For that same reason they seem to have made a large effort to get on with Camilla, regardless of the history. It's their family, they are entitled to enjoy it.
The thing that troubles me with all the hoopla over the memorial is, at what point are some considering it to be official? I confess I really don't know myself. Is it, isn't it? The royal family (yes, I know, minus Camilla) are attending. But is their attendance going to be as
The Royal Family (with all that entails) or as Diana's former in-laws? I genuinely believe that the Queen is attending at the request of her grandsons, not at the request of a future king to a queen. AFAIK there are no heads of state (or even minor royals) attending. No major governmental members in their official capacity. A holiday hasn't been declared. So I have trouble seeing how it can be claimed as an official event. I'm sure the "well, my tax money is paying for it" argument can be made, but at what point is the royal family's income theirs to do as they please? What would be the eventual progression of that line of thought? Should every tax payer have a say in what car Prince Charles buys for his sons, or what suits they get to wear also? Maybe William is covering the expenses out of the money he inherited from Diana's estate this year. How would that make it an official event?
An offical event would require that Camilla attend in her royal capacity. Her exclusion would be insulting. If it's not an official event, Camilla's attendance must be considered. At an official event, she most certainly attends and is an HRH and the consort of the Prince of Wales with all the respect due to her that the title requires. At an unofficial event, the overwhelming majority of the time she attends and is the loving wife of a loving husband with all the respect due to her that that relationship requires. But the memorial, in its most likely unofficial capacity and given her well known history with the deceased, is probably one time when she should have made a graceful retreat. Her position would be that of wife, not consort, and sometimes with wives there are sticky situations. It doesn't make her a second class citizen. The lack of her attendance at the memorial should in no way mar her position in the royal family. If you genuinely admire her, her reluctance to attend in the first place should have been supported. Why make her feel uncomfortable? Do you want her there for her dignity or is it for your comfort that she attends?
Camilla is HRH The Duchess of Cornwall. She picked the name, for whatever reasons she had. I think she made a name for herself as the Duchess. Her own identity. Not as the Princess of Wales, part 2. Nobody mistakes her for another Duchess, after all. She is the consort of the heir to the throne, the second lady in the land. I for one wish they would drop the Princess Consort nonsense. If anything set a bad example, that announcement did far more damage than the Duchess of Cornwall title. She should be Queen, end of discussion.
Charles does do well in his official capacity. There is no reason why he cannot be king. Although, he should always strive to live a life worthy of the admiration of his subjects as should all monarchs in public and in private. He should not get a pass on bad behavior just because he will be King. Respect is earned. Why push William to the forefront? Let him live life a little with a wife and family before he has to assume the awesome responsibility as King. Charles has been working towards it for years, he's prepared.
How do you justify being a monarchist when you are ready to roll on them the minute they do something you dislike? Is Queen Elizabeth now to be a parriah after years of hard work and service merely because it has been suggested that she might have maybe possibly in theory supposedly..yadda yadda have suggested that Camilla not attend? How do you mourn Camilla's treatment as a second class citizen by harkening back to the glorious days of Queen Mary when the monarchy was respected without question when in those days
1. Charles and Diana would never have been allowed to divorce in the first place.
2. Diana, if caught having an affair, would have been exiled to the continent without her children and brought back for rare occasional duties as POW.
3. Camilla would have to enter Clarence House via the back door at nightfall.
4. The public at large would never be told of 1, 2 or 3.
All this because a couple of young men wanted to remember their mother?
But I still don't hope that they are true because I want to see the light side in their characters rather than these dark cornners. Yes, Diana mania at its best and at the end of the day they would celebrite another victory for beating that woman and that bad man.
:crown9:
