Royal Author Explains How Princess Diana Is Still a ‘Thorn’ in King Charles’ Side
Members of the royal family aren’t strangers to controversy. And for King Charles, the biggest controversy of his life has been his extramarital affair with Queen Camilla (formerly Camilla Parker Bowles) while married to Princess Diana.
His public admission of adultery and eventual split from the princess has pretty much overshadowed every cause he has championed and all the other work he’s done over the last three decades. And even though he’s the monarch now, at least one royal author believes the late Princess Diana will “remain a thorn” in her ex-husband’s side.
Charles and Diana reached an understanding before she died
Charles and Diana tied the knot in 1981. At some point during their marriage, the then-Prince of Wales began an affair with his former flame who was also married at the time.
There were rumblings that the couple’s marriage was in trouble and in 1992, the press leaked a series of recorded phone conversations between Charles and Camilla in what was referred to as “Camillagate” or “Tampongate.” That same year, Buckingham Palace officially acknowledged marital problems between Charles and Diana and they separated. The “War of Wales” then played out like a soap opera. The future king admitted during a televised interview in 1994 that he was not faithful to the princess before Diana sat down for her infamous Panorama interview.
They divorced in 1996 and despite how nasty things had gotten at times, Diana revealed to Royalty Magazine editor Ingrid Seward that she and Charles wept together after signing the divorce papers.
“She said that on the day of the divorce, she and Charles sat down together on the sofa and they both cried. It was this crazy separation but by the time the divorce was finalized, they were on much better terms,” Seward explained in the documentary The Royal Family at War.
Royal biographer Christopher Andersen told Fox News Digital that Diana came to terms with everything that happened and made peace with it.
According to the author: “Charles and Diana reached a quiet understanding toward the end of her life. In fact, on one level, she came to admire Charles and Camilla for the unbreakable bond they shared. It was the kind of love match she herself had been rather desperately searching for but, sadly, never really found.”
Biographer says Princess Diana will always be a ‘thorn’ in the king’s side
Had things turned out differently, Diana would have moved on which would have given the green light for the public to eventually do the same. But her death caused anger toward Charles and his former mistress for how they treated her when she was alive. Charles and Camilla have had the benefit of time which has healed some of those wounds, but Andersen believes that the memory of Diana will always be a “thorn” in the king’s side.
“I think Diana remains a thorn in Charles’s side. So, in that sense, he is very much still haunted by her,” Andersen opined. “The king would rather consign his first wife to history and move on with Camilla as they transform the monarchy. Trouble is, Diana’s personality was so powerful, her impact so great, and her story so tragic that the king will never be free of her.”
