It was a dream wedding, but the dream only lasted a few years. Forty years ago, the British heir to the throne Charles and the young noblewoman Diana Spencer tied the knot. The couple was never really happy.
London – The “Wedding of the Century” was a welcome occasion for Great Britain to celebrate – but the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was not a lucky star from the start and caused the royal family to tumble.
The pictures of the lavish festival with thousands of guests of honor and cheerfully drunk onlookers initially helped to lift the mood in the economically starving Great Britain. With Diana, the dusty monarchy received a makeover – the Duchess of Wales quickly became popular with the population, and with the birth of sons William and Harry, the happiness of the British heir to the throne seemed complete.
These were impressive images that kept the world in suspense: an estimated 750 million people watched the wedding on July 29, 1981 on TV, in London hundreds of thousands lined the streets, onlookers camped on the route between Buckingham- Palace and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Commentators and viewers were particularly delighted by Diana’s dress and its meter-long train. But the then 20-year-old – significantly younger than her 32-year-old husband – already felt the burden that she had to carry from now on.
“I felt like a lamb being led to the slaughter,” Diana recalled, walking up to the altar for minutes. That was also due to an eyewitness: Camilla Parker-Bowles. Even then Diana had the impression that the feelings between her husband and his ex-girlfriend were more intense than Charles admitted. The impression increased: On the honeymoon, the Queen’s son is said to have worn cufflinks with the engraving “C&C” – Charles and Camilla.
A few years later it was official that the heir to the throne was more attracted to Camilla than to his wife. After the divorce, Diana commented on this in a BBC interview with the legendary sentence: “There were three of us in this marriage, it was a bit tight.” The dream marriage had long since failed.
Why the Prince of Wales married the young noblewoman, even though he was obviously not in love and the couple had no common interests, is still open today. The connection is considered a marriage of convenience after his relationship with Camilla was not approved in the palace in the early 1970s. As the daughter of an earl, Diana had royal connections and, unlike her older sister Sarah, with whom Charles previously hooked up, she had no “history”, i.e. no ex-boyfriends who made up for whispering. Biographers quote the heir to the throne that he wants to do the right thing “for this country and my family”.
Diana and Charles’ marital crisis also plunged the royal family into a crisis. Secret recordings of a very intimate phone call by Charles and Camilla, Diana’s public allegations against her husband and, last but not least, the inappropriate reaction of the Queen to the accidental death of the “Queen of Hearts” in 1997 when Elizabeth II only went to Buckingham Palace a few days later returned, led to harsh criticism. Charles was perceived as unsuitable for the office of king, recalls royal expert Victoria Howard. “Nobody believed that he would one day become king.” Rather, demands were made that Charles should resign in favor of his son William.
Often at the center of criticism in the following years: Camilla, derided as a “Rottweiler” because of her tough facial features. The “most hated woman in Great Britain” was spat at on the street and pelted with bread in the supermarket, said Royal expert Kate Nicholl recently. Those days are long gone. The British are quite divided in polls about Camilla’s role. But the recently 74-year-old is now not only respected in the population, but also in the royal family. For the young Duchesses Kate and Meghan, Camilla was like a mother and gave them advice when the two women joined the royal family, insiders say.
Charles and Camilla have been married for a good 16 years – since April 9, 2005 – 34 years after their relationship began. “Man and woman – finally,” wrote the Daily Telegraph at the time. Hardly anyone in Great Britain now doubts that Charles will become king when his mother dies. The only exciting question is which title the Duchess of Cornwall will then hold. So far, Clarence House, the couple’s residence, has been planning that Camilla will not be called “Queen Consort”, that is, King Wife, but “Princess Consort”. This title has never existed before. dpa
