Prince Charles was an insider

[sandy]

Camilla was what Charles and Diana did not have in common. Diana and Charles both went skiing every year for one thing, an interest they shared. Both liked Italian opera and ballet has classical music so Diana did like classical music. Andrew was said to be a couch potato and just ate and sat in front of a TV.

[TLLK]

[quotePeople can love each other and fall out of love, or love each other adn still find it hard to make a relationship work.. ]

@amabel-This is true and IMHO describes Andrew and Sarah's relationship as well.

well I think they were more in love than Charles and Diana, they were clearly very physical and more in tune with each other as people. but the relationship still didn't work.  love doesn't solve problems.
And some of the problems Sarah and Andrew hit were the same as Diana found.  Sarah couldn't adjust to royal life, much more than Diana.  She also found that the RF were not as glamourous up close as when she saw them occasionally as an outsider.  She found that Andrew was dull also when he was her husband rather than her boyfriend.  I think that Diana found the same aobut Charles, that she thought he was glamourous and very clever, but when she was at home with him, his talking about things didn't interest her and she got bored...

I agree. Charles loves the country life and more solitary pursuits like fishing, painting, and gardening. Diana enjoyed dance, theater, shopping and the activities found in cities. Andrew enjoyed golf and golf. Sarah wasn't fond of relaxing at home when he was on leave.

I don't think Diana liked the theatre much, but otherwise, yes, i'd agree that Charles liked country pursuits and serious reading and she liked things like shopping, movies, dancing, and lighter reading.
Andy was a stick in the mud stay at home, I think when eh was home from the Navy, and just want to sit and watch golf videos, and Sarah liked to go out,.
[/quote]I had high hopes for all of these couples when they married, but unfortunately they were not well-suited in the long run.

[sandy]

Camilla encouraged their not being "suited."

[LouisFerdinand]

Did not Prince Andrew and Sarah have an accountant to oversee their finances?

[Curryong]

^ Of course Andrew and Sarah had an accountant, but an accountant is no good if one of your clients insists on going on their merry way after warnings and doesn't keep to a budget.

I bet I know what happened from the beginning. Accountant appalled after six months- Andrew spends very little for the next twelve months beyond necessities, Sarah is very very sorry, says she will do much much better in future.

The good intentions last for about a week. Then there's a dress that she just has to have because it's a big occasion and Diana will be really dressed up. Plus, shoes, bag and hat and must have a hairdresser. Plus there's a party to go to next week. Just got to have a new gown. And we really need a new TV. And I promised to take my friend on my trip to the US. Have to book that in! It'll be such fun!

Six months later. Accountant, 'You just HAVE to pull back on your expenses!' Sarah 'I know I overspend. I'm really going to try.....! Andrew goes cap in hand to the Queen, not for the first time.

And so it went on. And goes on. The Duchess lives in the Land of Good Intentions. We've seen it for decades. After she mucks up about anything comes the breast beating and promises to do better, often followed by self congratulatory interview/TV show on how well she's doing. Then a year or so later she messes up again. She explains why it happened, according to her, and promises that she will change her ways. Interview with magazine. Then, a few months later.....

[amabel]

Did they have an accountant? I imagine that they have some kind of a financial manager on their team, but I don't think that they had the sort of money that might need an accountant to manage it,. 
sarah didn't pay for things like taking friends on holiday I'm sure, she got as many freebies as she could from HER friends. But she was trying to live like Diana and Charles and ddn't have a tenth of their money..
And I agree that back then Andrew was probably fairly frugal, now perhaps driven by the need to help Sarah he gets involved in dodgy deals to increase his money.  but Sarah saw beig royal as a licence to spend ridiculously and to go on endless holidays and fool around with all sorts of dodgy people

[Trudie]

Sarah was and is all that was typical of the 80's "It's all about me". Unlike Diana Sarah was part of the landed gentry and not titled for her having a title it appeared she believed that she had to live up to the standards of Charles and Diana.

[LouisFerdinand]

Do not all four of Queen Elizabeth II's children have accountants or financial managers?

[Curryong]

^ The Queen and Consort, because they are taxpayer funded, have Comptrollers of finance. So did the QM, and she was the despair of hers. Prince Charles does, because of the Duchy. I would imagine the Cambridges certainly do because of their different sources of wealth.

I think all the Queen's children would have accountants of some sort. Princess Anne for instance runs her home estate as a business. I also imagine the Yorks did as they had to have some way of tracking what happened to the allowance that the Queen gave Andrew each year.

[FanDianaFancy]

I agree with everyone and  really  cannot add anything else, except  with PC and D  , it  always, always  goes back to  Camialla was there.  Always there. FredPC and Gladys Camila went on the honeymoon. I  always bring that up.
That was the main issue. 50 %.
The other  , lest say, 25%  is  PD, I always  always say, had  no  real  family  or even  close friends of her own, accessible.  She had  her flatmates and they were true  to her,  but  the  BRF lifestyle, the flatmates making their own lives too,  I feel they  were not  as  close as they  were. Yes, one was PH's godmother.
You bring up her  family, but  really, her father  was old and old in his life and  ways  of  the  old  aristocracy.  Raine was her  stepmother and  they  were  not close. Too bad, because Raine could have helped her. Raine  was a  woman of the world. Smart.  progressive.
D's brother was too young  in his world, doing his  nothing. Spolied.
One sister  was  living her life and the other was beholden first and foremost  to the  Monarchy. That is how these people's world worked.  D  was in and out  of her sisters ' lives.  They  could  did  not  know, my guess, to give her  good advice.
Too bad   she did not have  some  trusted, wordly, progressive of the  1980's  and not  1880's  like a godmother, HER MOTHER,  aunt,  to give her advice on how to handle Pc and C and  BRF  and BRF duties and  everything.

The other 25%  was on PD. Sometimes one ahs  to  think  out loud, think for themselves, etc. No fortune tellers, crying fits,  throwing food up, etc.  YES, PD  was  immature  to a degree  due to herself, how she grew  up.

I have always said, Camilla  had  her mother, sister, brother, beloved father  and  a bunch of  friends  to help her. Add she even had  APB  to help guide her in her  private life with him and   with PC  before PD even entered the picture. APB and Camill  both approved of  LDFS. She was  just what  they  both wanted  for  themselves to keep  PC  for them both .

Sophie  had a  close knit family.

Kate, no need to  explain  there.

[amabel]

^ The Queen and Consort, because they are taxpayer funded, have Comptrollers of finance. So did the QM, and she was the despair of hers. Prince Charles does, because of the Duchy. I would imagine the Cambridges certainly do because of their different sources of wealth.

I think all the Queen's children would have accountants of some sort. Princess Anne for instance runs her home estate as a business. I also imagine the Yorks did as they had to have some way of tracking what happened to the allowance that the Queen gave Andrew each year.

surely that's what a financial manager is for?  Andrew is not on a very handsome allowance.. If he has an accountant it is His "own" one to deal iwht his rather dubious property deals...

[Trudie]

The York's did have a financial advisor John Bryan the one with the foot fetish where he couldn't resist sucking Sarah's toes. :lmao: :bignono:

[Curryong]

^ Yes, I'd forgotten about John Bryan the toe-sucker!  :wink: He and Sarah were extremely close for a while.

[amabel]

YOu mean she was havng an affair with him?

[Curryong]

^ The Queen and Consort, because they are taxpayer funded, have Comptrollers of finance. So did the QM, and she was the despair of hers. Prince Charles does, because of the Duchy. I would imagine the Cambridges certainly do because of their different sources of wealth.

I think all the Queen's children would have accountants of some sort. Princess Anne for instance runs her home estate as a business. I also imagine the Yorks did as they had to have some way of tracking what happened to the allowance that the Queen gave Andrew each year.

surely that's what a financial manager is for?  Andrew is not on a very handsome allowance.. If he has an accountant it is His "own" one to deal iwht his rather dubious property deals...

I'm not arguing that the Yorks didn't have an accountant/financial manager during their marriage. What I'm saying, and said in my post way back was that the Yorks' accountant or financial manager must have urged restraint in view of their restricted income, advice which Sarah probably took no notice of at all. Andrew too enjoys living off the hog. However, in those days he was in the navy and there's a limit to what retail spending you can do when at sea or on a naval base.

[amabel]

well yes I assume that they had some kind of person on their staff who handled their finances, but I doubt if back then it was an accountant.  and yes I suppose whoever it was did urge restraint as their income wasn't that big.. I don't believe that Andrew "enjoyed living high off the hog" back then. I think he was probably frugal as he was aware that as the second son, he wasn't going to be as rich as Charles... and he was away at sea and his fave hobbies seemed to be playing golf and watching videos.  But Sarah loved to spend and spend.  She I think got him inot debt and perhaps into a more lavish lifestyle.  And I think nowadays he has become involved in dodgy deals to finance her and his own lifestyle...

[Jennifer]

New book on Prince Charles sheds light on his personality and relationship with Diana

Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith is set to reveal new facets of the heir to the throne in Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, publishing this Thursday, 6 April.

After four years interviewing 300 of the prince's family members, friends, acquaintances and officials Bedell Smith's tome focuses on the man behind the public persona, with special attention on his marriage to Diana and his personality.

Sunday Times royal correspondent Royah Nikkhah got a sneak peek at the book and in an interview with ABC News said that 'this book really explores the fact that they were deeply unhappy, or at least Diana was, from literally Day One of their marriage'.

Read more:
New book on Prince Charles sheds light on his personality and relationship with Diana – Royal Central

[sandy]

well I can guess that the Mountbatten sisters were front and center. I don't agree that Diana and Charles were not "happy" at first. There are plenty of photos of them early on with PDA. And it is obvious that Diana did not agree with Charles idea of "marriage" which appeared to involve sharing.

[TLLK]

New book on Prince Charles sheds light on his personality and relationship with Diana

Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith is set to reveal new facets of the heir to the throne in Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, publishing this Thursday, 6 April.

After four years interviewing 300 of the prince's family members, friends, acquaintances and officials Bedell Smith's tome focuses on the man behind the public persona, with special attention on his marriage to Diana and his personality.

Sunday Times royal correspondent Royah Nikkhah got a sneak peek at the book and in an interview with ABC News said that 'this book really explores the fact that they were deeply unhappy, or at least Diana was, from literally Day One of their marriage'.

Read more:
New book on Prince Charles sheds light on his personality and relationship with Diana – Royal Central

@Curryong can hopefully give us her review on the book in due time. Looking forward to reading it myself.

[royalanthropologist]

I always go back to Morton and Panorama because they offer the most saccharine view of Diana that you can find but also quite revealing about Diana's personality. Diana conceived them as revenge projects on Charles but as we all know revenge is a dish best served cold. As she hammered away at her husband, she was also harming her reputation.

Later on the inconsistencies would put her in awkward situations such as explaining why she threw herself down the stairs knowing she carried an innocent baby in her womb. To this day, Diana fans have not been able to work around that. Either she was lying or she was a very irresponsible and selfish parent. Both those propositions are not images that Diana wanted to project.

You can see the contradictions even there.  Morton describes how Diana was unhappy from the beginning of her marriage to its end, save for the interlude when Harry and William were born. She talks about wanting to pull out of the wedding, of sleepless nights dreaming about her love rival. If that is a happy marriage, then I will say thanks but no thanks. Moreover one of the hottest rallying cries for the anti-Charles brigade is that he was having an affair throughout the marriage. If that is true, then no PDA is going to convince me that was a happy marriage.

Had Diana been reflective about her future she would have turned down the marriage proposal. Alternatively she would have found a way of dealing with the problems in the marriage without causing the public farce that the royal marriage became in the 1980s. She did not. She decided to enter the kitchen and stayed there until she was burnt and pushed out by an angry Queen who was outraged by Diana's treachery in Panorama.

[sandy]

Charles got his petty revenge by condoning posthumous bashing of his late ex wife. Charles had revenge projects on Diana encouraging his friends to bash her. Charles harmed himself by thinking it OK to share his friends wives.

Diana tripped on the stairs. Your implications of her trying to hurt the baby are extreme. But of course one can't libel the dead.

Charles and Diana had PDA and there are photos to prove it. So if you are not 'convinced' so be it.

Had Charles been honest he would have let Diana go and not proposed or before he proposed told her honestly what was expected of her and I mean honestly. Charles married her to get heirs.

Camilla and Charles are and were a pair of snakes IMO.

[amabel]

SHE is the one who said she threw herself down the stairs, knowing that she was pregnant.. you don't go throwing yourself down stairs, if you are pregnant unless you want to end the pregnancy or don't care that you're taking a risk. 
As for the PDA, with Charles, what does that mean?  People can engage in public affection, it does not mean that they love each other or that their romance will last.... you are insisiting that Charles never loved her, that he was always carrying on his affair with Camilla, so what does it matter if he and Diana were kissing?  It does not prove anything

[sandy]

She did not plunge headlong down those stairs. That is a fact. A letter from the time proves that. Had she plunged headlong down the stairs she'd have had broken bones. Later that day she went on a picnic with Charles something she could not have done if she fell down a full flight of stairs.  So then Charles was a phony faking the PDA? I am not sure if you are being flattering to Charles or not? It proves Charles is a phony if he "faked it" until he conceived the heir and spare. What a weirdo if he did this

[amabel]

Sandy DIANA SAID in her tapes that she threw herself down the stairs, knowing that she was pregnant.  So SHE obviously didnt think there was anyitng wrong with admitting to risking her baby's life.
Do you not see this?? that she was lying -but it is an odd lie to tell.  To say that you cared so little for your baby that  in a row wit your husband you threw youself down the stairs to upset him and knowing that ou were pregnant.
As for charles' "PDAS! again, YOU are sayng tat he indulged in these with Diana.  But why do You think they mean anything?  they dont you know.  All they mean is you feel like it at the time.
But you are the one who is insisting that he was in love with Camilla and didn't care for Diana.  So why talk about the PDAs as if they meant that the marriage had a chance of success?
I don't see wy you are calling him a "weirdo".  Since he and Di had 2 children obviously they ahd a sex life. so he "faked it" in making love to Di when he'd rather have been with Camilla.

[LouisFerdinand]

Why would Diana have wanted to fall down a flight of stairs? She was expecting a baby, an heir who would be the King.