Royal Commentator Believes ‘Gladys and Fred’ Bracelet Was Red Flag in King Charles’ Relationship With Princess Diana
A royal commentator believes Princess Diana found a red flag in her relationship with King Charles before they married. Diana’s discovery of a gift intended for Charles’ longtime friend, Camilla Parker Bowles, made her realize their union was headed for trouble before it began.
One particular moment was a red flag in Charles and Diana’s early relationship
From the moment they began courting their relationship, King Charles and Princess Diana met in person 13 times. The couple dated for six months before Charles proposed marriage to Diana in Buckingham Palace’s nursery under pressure from the monarchy to settle down with a suitable young woman.
Charles’ proposal was in February 1981. By July of that same year, he and Diana married in a lavish ceremony watched worldwide. The Archbishop of Canterbury called the wedding “the stuff of which fairy tales were made.”
However, Charles’ longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles was never far from his heart, even after he met and proposed to then-Lady Diana Spencer. Royal commentator Chandrika Kaul, Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews, discussed when Diana found a bracelet intended for Camilla, it threatened the couple’s tender union, reported The Mirror.
Kaul brought up the incident to shed light on how Charles hopes his grandchildren don’t make “the same mistakes he made” when it comes to staying true to one’s heart. Because of royal protocol, Charles felt he had to marry Diana when he was emotionally tied to Camilla.
Professor Paul noted that just weeks before the couple’s 1981 nuptials, Diana found a package containing a bracelet with the letters G and F. These initials were short for Gladys and Fred, nicknames Charles and Camilla used for each other. Paul believed this set a negative tone to the start of Diana and Charles’ relationship during a broadcast of The Fab Five: The King’s Grandchildren.
Princess Diana elaborated on the incident when secretly opening up to a reporter years later. She told her story in a book published as her unofficial biography.
Diana shared her version of the bracelet incident with Andrew Morton for a tell-all book
Before it began, Princess Diana’s discovery of a gift meant for Camilla Parker Bowles greatly affected her relationship with King Charles. In the Andrew Morton book Diana: Her True Story, the Princess of Wales visited the office of Michael Colborne, who was then Charles’ secretary.
She said: “I was still too immature to understand all the messages coming my way. And then someone in his office told me my husband had a bracelet made for her.”
Diana continued, “I walked into this man’s office one day and said, ‘Ooh, what’s in that parcel?’ And he said, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t look at that.’”
“So I opened it, and there was the bracelet.” Diana told Morton: “I was devastated, and I said, ‘Well, he’s going to give it to her tonight.’ So rage, rage, rage. You know, ‘Why can’t you be honest with me?’ But no, absolutely cut me dead. It was as if he’d made his decision, and if it wasn’t going to work, it wasn’t going to work.”
King Charles wants his grandchildren to learn from his mistakes
Before marrying Princess Diana, King Charles spent most of his 20s and 30s dating many beautiful women. He appeared to be searching for companionship and the woman who would eventually become the United Kingdom’s queen.
He found that woman early on in Camilla Parker Bowles. However, because she had several serious relationships, she was not considered wife material for a future king. They parted ways, and Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles.
Kaul believes the king is hoping for a better outcome for the children of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
“What I think he wants to do is try and help these young grandchildren grow up in as normal a way as possible. Create more fully rounded human beings who are unafraid of their emotions and who are able to have the confidence to marry whom they want,” they continued.
From the beginning of their relationship and marriage until its end, Charles’ love for Camilla overshadowed his marriage to Diana. Two years after Diana’s untimely death in 1997, Charles and Camilla made their public debut as a couple. In 2005 Charles and Camilla wed. In 2023, they were crowned king and queen consort of the United Kingdom.
