Prince Charles's ex-press secretary DID adore on Diana when married

[sara8150]

Prince Charles's ex-press secretary Dickie Arbiter insists the royal DID adore Diana when they married and says his old boss will defy public opinion to be the UK's best king
Charles's ex-press secretary says royal did adore Diana | Daily Mail Online

[amabel]

I'd say adore is a rather strong description, "was fond of" is more likely

[royalanthropologist]

He could not adore her since Charles never knew who Diana really was. He never bothered to know her before proposing. Just went through the motions IMO.

[amabel]

he made a reasonable attempt.  they dated. he took her out to music events and took her to Balmoral, to watch him dong his country sports.  She acted like she was interested in all this.  They spent time together at Highgrove, at weekends...
Its not his fault that he didn't realise she was fooling herself or that she was a much more fragile person than she appeared at first.
he didn't "adore her", but he was fond of her, clearly was sexually attracted to her and was willing to learn to love her.

[FanDianaFancy]

Facts....he needed and wanted his heirs. It was time. Andy was coming up on his tail and even Eddie.
Camilla and Kangaroo were still around and Camilla could have cared less because she was going to make sure she kept her place and was placed number 1 and she did and and she was.
PC tolerated D and did his duty which was to have sexual relations  enough for procreation. Job done and won. Completed.
I watched a show last night, for Americans, it was PBS.
I really have not watched any of the shows. It is the same ole thing.
D said they sex once every three weeks then to not at all after Harry.

It was what it was. An unbalanced relationship without knowing how it was going to be.

It is what it is, D is dead, but her ghost is still over CnC.
Lol, funny how it is turning out.
W and H have not helped this summer with the fairytale. The fairytale of CnC.

[amabel]

Of course he needed heirs.  Do you think that Andrew or Edward would have thanked him for remaining single and leaving them as heirs to the throne???
I'm not even going to discuss Diana's folly in talking abot her sex life to P Settelen

[sandy]

Charles confessions about his parents in his authorized biography were embarrassing and a folly and he wanted this out in public. Diana's interview was not intended to see the light of day--Diana died at 36 so it Settelen wanted to cash in and be "famous". Andrew or Edward would just have done what they had to do if Charles had no heirs.
Double post auto-merged: August 28, 2017, 03:49:22 PM

he made a reasonable attempt.  they dated. he took her out to music events and took her to Balmoral, to watch him dong his country sports.  She acted like she was interested in all this.  They spent time together at Highgrove, at weekends...
Its not his fault that he didn't realise she was fooling herself or that she was a much more fragile person than she appeared at first.
he didn't "adore her", but he was fond of her, clearly was sexually attracted to her and was willing to learn to love her.

Diana did not "act" she was trying to get to know her then boyfriend Prince Charles. She acted like billions of others do. Some women dislike football but go with their boyfriends because they want to get to know them better. And a man might go to a "chick flick" to get to know his girlfriend. Nothing sinister about it.

Nobody should go into a marriage hoping to "learn to love someone." That is fantasy land stuff. Charles at his age should have had a clue about that being a recipe for disaster. And Diana is criticized for reading Cartland? the learn to love spin seems to be right from her novels.

Diana enjoyed music she loved ballet which does have...classical music. And she enjoyed Italian opera. She was  not "pretending."

Everyone in the country knew Diana did not hunt and she disliked horses. So how come she was accused of "faking it" when it was common knowledge?

Charles should have cut to the chase and told her all his expectations about the marriage (including Camilla being around).

A reasonable attempt is not marrying someone that one does not love. It is a cop out for him to want to "learn to love her" that is again, very idealistic and unrealistic.

[amabel]

I really can't believe that anyone would compare criticising one's parents to the way Diana talked about her sex life to somone she hardly knew, and was taped doing it. 

[sandy]

The difference Charles wanted the bashing of his parents' out there. For the world to hear. I think it showed great disrespect and was a mistake on his part.  Diana did not intend for her tapes to be aired. The man cashed in on the tapes once she died.

Charles also unwisely admitted adultery for the world to hear a year before the Panorama. It had wide ranging consequences including a prompt divorce of the Parker Bowleses and Camilla's father confronting Charles.

[TLLK]

It's time we learned to cherish and stop chastising Prince Charles

Here is the original article written by Dickie Arbiter for The Guardian.

[Curryong]

Dickie Arbiter has been in bad odour with the BRF himself since he wrote his book! All you say about Charles may be very true, Dickie. However people sometimes respond with their hearts and it's clear that there are still a large percentage of the population of Britain for whom the Prince's first marriage still looms large. I find it very interesting that practically every article that mentions Charles with Diana and Camilla ends with a debate in the published comments on Charles's first marriage, many of the comments not flattering to him. The subject quite clearly isn't going to go away.

As for troughs and peaks in royals popularity that is again true. However, in the past ten to twelve years Charles's popularity in polls hasn't peaked at all. He is firmly behind his mother and his sons in every reputable and newspaper based poll.

Rather worrying for a future monarch who 'deserves to be cherished'. Why? Does he deserve to be 'cherished' more than Kate Kent, who went under the radar for many years helping children and the sick in hospital? Does he deserve it more than his mother who has dedicated her entire life to her country and Commonwealth and has managed to do it without adultery by herself, or a major scandal.

And why this sudden rush of sympathy for the POW? Could it be that he IS feeling battered by the media outpourings this month and therefore his circle of friends are circling the wagons? It's well known that Charles is subject to anguishing musings about being under-appeciated by others.

[royalanthropologist]

As a parent, I would be outraged if my child slapped me for ANY reason (talking about it later as if it was normal)  let alone pushing my wife down the stairs. Therefore I consider what Diana did much worse than what Charles did.

I also happen to believe Charles when he says that his were cold parents and that he relied on the QM for support. I do not condone criticizing one's parents in the media but in his defense Charles has never done it again. Dimbley was a very substantial book and television program about the Prince's life. The stuff about Diana was peripheral. It was just picked up by the media for sensational effect. By contrast, all of Diana's media forays were focused on nothing but criticizing Charles and getting revenge on him.

I can also tell you that if someone who behaved like Diana was getting married to my son, I would definitely express some misgivings. Who talks about their sex life to perfect strangers because she is having a dispute with her husband? Who gives out the private telephone numbers of members of the family and their staff in order to prove that they have a large staff? Who says that the in-laws and her own family are cold and messed up to all and sundry and yet insist that she does not want to get divorced? The BRF were only acting like any estranged and outraged in-laws would. Diana did not like them and they did not like her back.

Also @sandy, the Parker-Bowles divorce was not harmful to Charles or Camilla in any way. It was an amicable divorce and APB has never run to the media to whinging about anything to do with his marriage or divorce. He still gets on with his ex wife and her new husband. The behavior us reciprocated. They attended his wedding to his long standing mistress and her later funeral. The APB divorce opened the way for Charles to marry Camilla and they are happy as a consequence of that.

I cannot see how that is damaging to them in any way. Two mature people decided to get divorced after what happened to be an open marriage. None of them is complaining. It is the outsiders who are complaining...not the principals. I suspect the outsiders complained because the divorce strengthened Camilla's position vis-a-vis a second second. The fair tale was about to end in a way they never expected. Charles and Camilla were going to be happy and that grated.

As for Charles not being cherished by some members of the public...tough. That is life...you win some, you lose some. It will not change his work and he will not change their minds. Just get on with your life and leave people to enjoy their grudges against you. That is my advice...ignore the lot and continue as normal.  The hounding of Charles is more about the issues that his detractors have than him. He is happily remarried and getting on with his life. It is them that are unable to do so, even if it is not their life actually.

[sandy]

Diana did not push Raine down the stairs, she did not fall down a flight of stairs. And Diana and Raine made up so how can others rush to judgment about how "mean" Diana was to her. IF Raine and DIana made up then why keep up the "bad" Diana doing this to her. Raine was the only one in the world who was directly involved and she chose to forgive Diana and Diana and Raine became friends. It was not as if Diana was ostracized. The confessions were made years ago when Raine was still alive.  John Spencer loved his daughter and vice versa.

The Housekeeper said Prince Charles had a temper throwing things during quarrels with Diana and even pulling out a sink. He put down Diana publicly. I think Charles was nasty to her. If he had been a decent human being and ditched Camilla, there would have been no confessions by either of them. Charles started the proceedings by writing self pitying letters to his friends (as early as 1983) complaining about his marriage and his wife's popularity. Instead of persuading him to work on the marriage they trashed Diana, leaked stories about her and provided safe houses to expedite Charles' meetings with his mistress.  Charles confiding in his marital issues to his friends many of whom were sycophants only made things worse.

The Parker Bowles divorce was forced by Charles. It is subject to speculation if they had wanted to part ways at that time. It was unheard of for a senior royal to out a mistress publicly. The Duke of Windsor only outed Wallis after her divorce from Simpson. He never blabbed to the world she was his mistress. Then Simpson would be the injured party --as it turned out Simpson took the blame. Charles was angrily confronted by Camilla's father (what are you going to do about her now he said). Charles was heavily criticized for his confessions. And Parker Bowles himself was outed as a cuckold for all to hear. He did not mind when it was not advertised or admitted by the Prince of Wales. It caused a lot of flak. APB who shared his wife with Charles would no way run to the media. Why would he. His reward is being invited in to royal events. If he did not mind Charles sleeping with his wife, why would he make a fuss. It suited both him and Camilla for this arrangement to happen.

Diana did not give out private telephone numbers. Even Junor never said this.  If anybody like Charles approached anybody in my family I would certainly express misgivings about him. I would not allow any daughter or sister or niece to marry someone as self centered as Charles and had a rather shady past sleeping with his friends' wives. He would be persona non grata whether or not he has a title.

Who said the inlaws were cold and messed up? I can tell you: Prince Charles himself. He trashed his parents as "cold" via his biographer DImbleby and this has also appeared in recent books by Smith and Junor. Charles has "done it again." He did meet with Junor and Junor said so. And Smith had access to Charles and his friends. If he did not want the "cold" parents played out again, he would have not allowed Junor to do so, Junor would naturally have obeyed him if he made that request of her.

Camilla lives in a separate home from Charles. I am not a buyer into of the Great Love Story since Charles had many other women, married someone else and relegated Camilla to Mistress. Camilla wanted only the best for herself and saw that she got it, undermining the first wife.

[royalanthropologist]

@sandy. You are arguing against the recorded words of the protagonist Diana. This is not me speaking. It is her, on record. You may excuse why and how she did it but these are actually factual things. I bring them up to show that nothing Charles did to his parents comes close to what Diana did or said about hers.

Also, following the P-B divorce; each of the parties got on with their lives. You speak of it as if the P-B divorce was a crisis for Charles, Andrew or Camilla. It was not.  None of them is complaining about either the divorce or their life after that particular divorce. None of them. C&C as well as ABP all remarried and seemed happy with their new choices, save for the fact that the new Mrs. P-B died of natural causes.
Double post auto-merged: August 29, 2017, 11:38:30 AM

I also get rather amused by this way of thinking: "Camilla lives in a separate home from Charles." The implication being that they are not happy. People do not have to be in each other's faces to be happy. In any case it works for them. None of them is complaining so they are happy with the arrangement.

Then you have the other excuse: "Oh he did have other mistresses and lovers so she is nothing special". Whatever lovers, wife, mistresses etc. Charles had: it is Camilla who he has chosen in the end. The others he left. Kanga is a prime example of someone who was once in his life but he left her. Camilla is still with him all these years...none of the other women are with him. Saying that someone does not love another because they once had other lovers is ridiculous.

The faces and body language speak for themselves. Nobody in their right mind can claim that Charles was happier with Diana than he is with Camilla. It is simply not true. No amount of wishing that C&C are unhappy is going to make it so. The same goes for wishing that Charles and Diana were happy. They weren't and they divorced as a consequence. Charles is happy with Camilla and they have been happy for the last 12 years. They have been together for even longer. His relationship with Diana could not last out even 5 years because they were not suited. 

[sandy]

The state of "happiness" of the couple is known only to them. That said. I think Camilla is ecstatic with getting the perks, title and bling.

I am stating that whatever happened was between Raine and Diana. Raine did not fall down a flight of stairs or she would  have had a very serious injury with broken bones. It was a few steps on a landing according to accounts I read. As I said, who is anybody here to condemn Diana since Raine was the one who had to do the forgiving and indeed she did. She and Diana were great friends beginning with the time of the death of John Spencer. Unlike her brother (who packed Raine's things in plastic bags and tossed her out of Althorp) Diana was very sympathetic to her.  Diana did not intend that those tapes be aired. She did not expect to die at 36. If she knew when she would die (if she had a few months to live and knew it) I think she'd have burned those tapes.

If you read the literature of the time period, it WAS controversial. Charles got criticized heavily for outing his mistress that way.  And outing another man's wife was a no no for a Prince. If it were not controversial why did Camilla's father get angry? And if it were nothing, APB would have ignored it and let the "arrangement" go on. It took years for Charles to marry Camilla after he outed her, about 10 years.If it were so "harmless" he could have married her right away. He needed a spin doctor to work with Camilla and his grandmother did not want a C And C wedding in her lifetime. If it were oh so harmless, The Queen Mum would not have minded a marriage right away.

Camilla was treated as a mistress not wife material for Charles for years. He had a chance to court her and tell her they had a future in the early seventies. He knew she may up and marry APB if he left on his navy tour. He admitted to his biographer he was "not ready" to marry then.  And continued to sow wild oats and found at least four candidates for wife material.  It is not "ridiculous". Charles did not choose Camilla to marry and be the mother of his heirs. She was his married mistress that he was sneaking around with. She got perks from it but he did not see her as wife material. If Diana had turned him down he would find someone else like her and not Mrs Parker Bowles.

You can tell nothing from face and body language. During the worst part of the C and D marriage they kept up appearances even having "adoring" looks at oone another. Camilla is set for life. Charles was not happy with Diana because he wanted her to be the mother of his heirs and love had nothing to do with it. Charles got to have his cake and eat it too. Diana and Charles were not suited because he married Diana not loving her and wanting to keep the mistress around. Camilla undermined Diana every step of the way. I don't admire that sort of person in the least. Charles is not "happy" because the two recent books showed that he still has grievances. Junor admitted she had input for her last book from Charles and Camilla.

Camilla was not "with" Charles all those years. She was married to someone else from 1973 to 1995. And he had a wife. They did not marry until 2005. Charles also was involved in other serious relationships.  I think Camilla did not see Diana as a threat but saw off Anna Wallace who would have given Camilla a real run for her money.

[royalanthropologist]

So we can also assume that "Diana was ecstatic with getting the perks, title and bling" then when she accepted Charles' proposal...or did she have a pure kind of love that took no notice of the fact that he was the Prince of Wales? I am always cynical about these romantic fairy tales because they do not make sense to me at all. 

I cannot take seriously any argument that suggests Charles was forced to marry Camilla. It is simply without a single shred of evidence. Not a single one. He married that women against all the odds and all the people that tried to stop him because he loved her and she loved him back. Hoping and imagining otherwise does not make it so.

You also say something quite interesting about forgiving and condemning so  I counter: "who is anybody here to condemn Charles and Camilla since it was Diana/her children who were the ones who had to do the forgiving". Double, triple standards etc. do not convince me. If C&C must remain unforgiven for their transgression then so must Diana. Likewise if Diana is to be forgiven for her transgressions then so must C&C.

Actually APB wanted to marry his long term mistress and he did. He was not the devastated cuckold you describe. His and Camilla's divorce was very civilized and they remain friends. This was no wronged husband complaining about his lot.

Charles has absolutely no grievance against Camilla none. He has gone on record and his friends have gone on record saying she is the perfect wife for him and he regrets not marrying her earlier. Charles may complain about many things and many people but never about Camilla. Everything he does shows that he is very happy with her.

Having heirs did not protect Diana when he wanted to leave. He just left. It is not really an achievement to say "at least he chose me for his heirs" when that very man has gone on record to say he only proposed to you under pressure and was not really interested in marrying you since he was in love with someone else. If someone asked Charles today if he was in love with Camilla, I can guarantee you the answer would not be "whatever love is".

Even more it really does not matter whether or not Camilla was a mistress. He chose to marry her in the end and left Diana. Charles was sad when Camilla married APB. No such feelings were ever expressed when Diana found other lovers. He was simply not interested.

To him, the marriage to Diana was a duty not a love match. He married what he thought was the right woman for the institution/nation and but later found out he just could not live with her. After a few turbulent years, he decided he could no longer be bothered to try and went back to Camilla.

As for Anna Wallace, Kanga and all the women in Charles' past; they are now just distant memories. It is Camilla he chose to marry in the end. She is the one with him...not them. Dick Arbiter is putting an acceptable face on what was essentially an arranged marriage, a far cry from Charles current marriage.

[sandy]

Charles wanted Diana to be the mother of his heirs as well as his wife. She would of course be a royal and mother of his heirs. I commented on Camilla not Diana, who was not chosen to be mother of his heirs. Diana could not run after Charles like a little groupie if she had a crush on him. Charles chose to court Diana because he needed the suitable wife and she among the candidates. Charles' fairy tale was that he wanted his own flesh and blood heir to succeed him.

I did not say Charles was "forced" to marry Diana or Camilla although the spin is that he was "forced" to marry Diana. Charles made his own choices despite the spin.

The Parker Bowleses may not have wanted to divorce that soon and perhaps on their own terms. Charles forced the issue by naming Camilla publicly as his married mistress.  Though he had to wait 10 years to marry her due to many circumstances including his grandmother's disapproval and her wish that she not see a C and C wedding in her lifetime.

A person who does not like Camilla or Diana need not be held to "judgments." People can make up their own minds without being accused of having "double standards." The fact is that Diana and Raine got along very well and it is indeed their business. Should someone have approached Raine and condemned her forgiving the "bad" Diana? Raine would have shown that person the door.

I never said Charles had grievances about Camilla but their feelings for each other are known only to them. I don't see it as the Great Love Story of all time. Since Charles had relegated her to mistress and did not choose her to marry before she married APB.

Charles was a cad to talk about the mother of his children that way and his "leaving" was nothing something really vile and cruel. He should not be praised for the behavior. He got to have his cake and eat it too.

He married Camilla 8 years after Diana died. He  did not jump from one woman to the other in a nanosecond.

If Charles were "sad" at her  marrying APB he did a bad imitation of it, he was involved with many other women, some seriously involved.  Charles also should have thought about "sadness" when he ditched Camilla and went to sea not even telling her to wait for him.

Charles would have to have been really stupid if he thought he could marry a woman he did not love and think it would be "OK" with the woman. I think he is very thoughtless to say the least.

Anna Wallace dumped Charles as did Amanda KNatchbull. Kanga was a "substitute" for Camilla when she was doing her duty and having children with APB> I find this a big sordid mess.

It did matter that Charles considered Camilla "mistress material" and he made it clear that she was not "good enough" to marry and have children with. In some ways he treated her in just as a demeaning way as Diana.  But Camilla had ambitions undermined the wife and got where she is today.

APB divorced Camilla. IF it was "OK" with him to be outed by his wife's lover then he would have not divorced Camilla. But he did. He was rewarded for being "civilized" but it must have bothered him that he did not want to put up with the charade anymore.

[royalanthropologist]

The bottom line is this. Charles (the best authority on his thoughts and feelings on this planet) has said that he married Diana under what he considered to be pressure (media, royal advisers and his father). He was in love with Camilla, not Diana. Charles tried to make the best of a bad situation and so did Diana but they "run out of steam" as she said. An acrimonious divorce ensued (there is plenty of evidence of that acrimony right up to date).

I think it is a waste of time trying to squabble over things that are facts, backed by documentary evidence and multiple sources. Some of the assertions of APB as a miserable cuckold are just too ridiculous to even argue against.  We go round and round and round in the same circles: sometimes almost like a copy and paste job.

Charles is now married to someone he loves, who loves him back, understands him, appreciates him and supports him. That is what many of us consider to be a happy marriage.  He got none of those things in his first marriage and was miserable as a consequence. He left. Leaving a bad relationship is not "vile and cruel". It is about getting away from an unpleasant situation.   Nobody should ever be in a relationship against their will, particularly a relationship that is as toxic and damaging to both parties as the C&D marriage.

I do point out the double standards where I see them. Virtually everybody in that family has moved on from that bad episode of their lives apart from outsiders who will not let go (some journalist even had the gall to tell us that we will never forgive C&C's adultery...such pomposity and presumptuousness is just insufferable to me and I feel the need to inject a dose of reality).

[sandy]

Charles was still a 32 year old adult. He even apparently was encouraged by Camilla who hosted Charles and Diana on weekends when they were dating. But he never said she 'forced' him though apparently gave her approval. If he was in love with Camilla and not Diana he should not have married Diana. Unless he told Diana the whole story and all his expectations prior to a proposal. He did not.

Diana loved Charles but he did not love her back. She was eager to support him back then when they married and she wanted to do her best in their royal work. But the public liked her and he got jealous. Which made things even worse. He did not appear to have the maturity to appreciate his own wife. Diana was very hurt by finding out after the wedding where she stood in the relationship. I don't blame her. Charles was dishonest with her and should have told her all and I mean all that he expected from her in the marriage. It is own fault he was miserable marrying Diana to get heirs knowing he did not love her. It was vile and cruel to treat a young woman that way. Cruel to marry her knowing he did not love her and cruel to start showing contempt for her.

How do you know who has moved on? The boys have not airbrushed out their mother obviously. Camilla even gave an interview a few months ago where she played victim.  Junor keeps writing Diana bashing books and Charles and Camilla's pals keep on trashing. So there does appear to be some bitterness going on. If they all were so happy Charles would never have met with Junor about the book. Junor writes nasty things about Diana with the apparent approval of C and C. so how happy Charles really is is subject to speculation. Junor even repeated the "suffering" that Charles went through in his childhood and complained about his parents as did Smith. No I don't think Charles and Camilla have "moved on."

Charles could have let go of the other woman who was married to someone else and worked on his marriage to Diana. Knowing Camilla was "there" for him gave him less incentive to try to work on  his first marriage.

APB was not "miserable" but he did not like Charles naming his then wife as his long term mistress for the world to hear. He played nice when it was an "open secret" among their "set" but if he were so happy that Charles named his wife, he would have just continued the arrangement. Obviously APB was not that wishy washy that he would continue to tolerate the arrangement once Charles blabbed. I don't blame APB for wanting a divorce and ending the sham at that point.

I think Charles always loved himself. I don't buy into the Great Love Story. Camilla got what she wanted and undermined another woman to get it. A "love" built on someone else's misery is imperfect. The QUeen Mum did not want a C and C marriage in her lifetime.

[FanDianaFancy]

I am watching Diana: In Her Own Words. American tv, NGEO. On cable.

I am not watching it all. Sad. Ancient history.

royal and sandy, no comment.

I prefer sticking to the Facts.

Camilla was invited in by Charles. D and PC never really stood a chance.
No marriage can survive with a third party be it the bus ad or wife's meddling mother for example.
PC and D both were young in a way when they married.
Yes, even  PC in a way was too young.
Too bad D did not have any older woman to help her, guide her, advise her....bulima was not the answer or Valium.
Too bad after PW, when they a real peace, a real happiness, a real time to mesh, and during their Australian tour where they both did magnificent.

She had time by then and he had time....but there was Camilla and he invited her still.

Too bad because if there was QEII to not ostrich or TPTB to counsel them or too bad Louis Mountbatten was alive....someone to talk, counsel them to make it work...get to enjoy and know each other...think of all the good they had...

I am not watching the rest of the show.
Too sad.


Too bad today, imagine if it this had happened. They head of BRF, head of Euro royals, having their precious grandchildren staying at their house for sleepovers.
Too bad

Yes, C and C are what it is, but time will tell. If  PC  dies before C and before they are K and Q, hmmm, we will see ......a whole truth....

I doubt this will happen. PC and C . They will live another good 20 years at least.

[royalanthropologist]

I think out of respect for someone that lost her life on this day, I will not get into a bickering match over the details.

[sandy]

I am watching Diana: In Her Own Words. American tv, NGEO. On cable.

I am not watching it all. Sad. Ancient history.

royal and sandy, no comment.

I prefer sticking to the Facts.

Camilla was invited in by Charles. D and PC never really stood a chance.
No marriage can survive with a third party be it the bus ad or wife's meddling mother for example.
PC and D both were young in a way when they married.
Yes, even  PC in a way was too young.
Too bad D did not have any older woman to help her, guide her, advise her....bulima was not the answer or Valium.
Too bad after PW, when they a real peace, a real happiness, a real time to mesh, and during their Australian tour where they both did magnificent.

She had time by then and he had time....but there was Camilla and he invited her still.

Too bad because if there was QEII to not ostrich or TPTB to counsel them or too bad Louis Mountbatten was alive....someone to talk, counsel them to make it work...get to enjoy and know each other...think of all the good they had...

I am not watching the rest of the show.
Too sad.


Too bad today, imagine if it this had happened. They head of BRF, head of Euro royals, having their precious grandchildren staying at their house for sleepovers.
Too bad

Yes, C and C are what it is, but time will tell. If  PC  dies before C and before they are K and Q, hmmm, we will see ......a whole truth....

I doubt this will happen. PC and C . They will live another good 20 years at least.

I do think Charles believed in the "fairy tale" of marrying someone and "learning to love her." Either he expected things to fall into place or was very naive or a combination of both. That is a dream. That's why serious pre marital counseling is encouraged for engaged couples to sort things out ahead of time and try to  offset issues that might happen in the marriage.