Prince Charles Once Allegedly Choked a Staff Member and Ripped a Sink Out of the Wall in Anger
The royal family has always had a “never complain, never explain” way of doing things. Any drama that happened within the palace walls stayed within the palace walls, unless anonymous sources let it leak.
That was, until 1995, when one of Prince Charles’ closest friends and staff members had had enough. And it turns out the former employee’s stories about the prince painted quite a different picture of the future king than what the public had come to know.
Prince Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles greatly affected his reputation
When Charles married Princess Diana back in 1981, the two were not in love — he practically said so himself in an interview. The couple had only gone on 12 dates before Charles popped the question, and Diana once revealed she was so shocked that she started laughing. Though the two tried to make their marriage work, Charles only wanted to be with one woman: Camilla Parker Bowles.
Charles and Camilla had dated prior to marriage, but rumor has it the queen didn’t see Camilla as a good fit for her husband. Still, the two couldn’t stay away from each other, and after several years of remaining faithful to Diana, Charles rekindled his affair with Camilla.
The two kept it hidden for a while, but eventually, the media learned of Charles’ infidelity. It greatly affected his reputation, with many people siding with Diana and feeling sympathetic toward her for being thrown into a high-profile, loveless marriage. The drama lowered Charles’ approval rating and, to this day, some think he and Camilla don’t deserve to be king and queen.
Prince Charles’ former employee revealed how hard it was to work for the prince
In 1995, Charles’ personal valet, Ken Stronach, came clean about what it was really like to work for the prince — and it didn’t paint a great picture. Stronach revealed in an interview with News of the World that Charles was angry; he claimed the prince had outbursts that once required him to hide in a closet in fear. He revealed that Charles and Diana would get into a “screaming match” often. Stronach even told a story of the time Charles dropped a cuff link down the sink, and, in anger, he ripped the sink right out of the wall just to find it. The former staffer also once recalled that Charles followed up on his anger by grabbing Stronach by the throat. Stronach claimed he then hid in a linen closet until Charles had calmed down.
Stronach’s actions were seen as a massive betrayal, as nobody so close to a royal had ever provided such confidential details about one’s personal life. “All through my time with (Charles) we’ve all been told not to speak to anyone about anything,” Stronach said. “… We’ve all kept his secrets, and the strain made me very ill.”
Prince Charles and Camilla have worked hard to rebuild their reputation
Charles has received mixed reviews from the public for years, with some unable to forget the stories about the prince and what happened between him and Diana. However, he and Camilla have spent their entire marriage working to rebuild their reputation. There were rumors that Charles’ relationship with his sons was strained, though Prince William and Prince Harry appear to get along well enough with their father today.
At one point, the public was calling for the queen to deem Prince William and Kate Middleton the future faces of the monarchy and skip right over Charles and Camilla. Still, it’s highly unlikely the queen would do that, despite that Charles will likely never build up his approval rating to be higher than that of his son and daughter-in-law.
