The night before his wedding to Princess Diana, King Charles reportedly sobbed, knowing that his heart still belonged to Camilla. Royal specialists also claim that he wasn’t the only one who was grieving.
Ian Pelham Turner, a royal analyst, told Fox News Digital, “They both [cried].” Diana’s sister advised her that it was too late to change her mind about marrying Charles because the tea towels bearing their faces were already on the market. In an attempt to incorporate Camilla in some manner, Charles donned cufflinks with her initials on the special day, which apparently moved him to tears.
Turner’s remarks followed public scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding Charles and Diana’s royal wedding on July 29, 1981.
The biography Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life claims that Charles battled his residual love for Camilla, who was already married, and felt compelled to wed Diana. He even sobbed about it the night before his wedding, according to the site.
Hilary Fordwich, a British royal specialist, reinforced that assessment when she told Fox News Digital that Sally Bedell Smith, the book’s author, had verified Charles’ emotional collapse.
“I was on set with Sally Bedell Smith during the coverage of King’s coronation [in 2023,” Fordwich recalled. She admitted to crying the night before the wedding when I asked her directly.
Despite the fact that the dissolution of Charles and Diana’s marriage has been extensively reported, Fordwich feels that the younger royals of today are lucky to avoid the same emotional entanglements.
“A tragically iconic example of royal duty clashing with personal happiness is the Charles, Diana, and Camilla triangle,” she said.
According to reports, Charles, who was a prince at the time, felt pressured by his father, Prince Philip, to wed Diana—not out of love, but to meet royal requirements.
According to Fordwich, he required a virginal, socially acceptable bride who would one day become queen. Because of her prior relationships and her marital status, Camilla was deemed wholly inappropriate. The heir was not permitted to wed a divorcee by the Church of England.
Fordwich was informed by his godmother, Patricia Mountbatten, that although Charles loved someone else, he realized he was in too deep to call off the wedding. Fordwich went on to say that although she understood he was making a mistake, Camilla was still his soulmate despite being married to someone else.
According to reports, Charles fell in love with Camilla when he first met her in 1970 through a common friend, Lucia Santa Cruz. But in 1971, he joined the Navy because duty demanded it. In 1973, while he was away, Camilla wed Andrew Parker Bowles, a man who had dated Princess Anne, Charles’ sister. Charles was reportedly devastated and even attempted to stop the marriage. He and Camilla remained close, nevertheless.
Charles started dating Lady Diana Spencer in 1980.
It was rumored that Charles and Camilla’s intimate connection had ended at the time of their wedding, according to Fordwich. However, they were both chastised for maintaining the emotional bond. She was labeled the other woman by the media.
Diana also understood that Camilla was not leaving.
According to Fordwich, Diana first seemed to be genuinely in love with Charles. But as she grew to realize how deeply Charles and Camilla were emotionally connected, she started confiding in others that she felt insecure and stupid.
Diana felt compelled to perform the ceremony in spite of her reservations.
According to Fordwich, it was evident from her relatives, the media, and even her own sisters that once her face was on the tea towels, it was too late. The wedding captured the attention of the entire country.
Diana seemed nervous on the wedding day, which many people thought was just jitters. However, few were aware of her mental distress about Camilla’s continuous involvement in Charles’ life.
Diana subsequently acknowledged that, although she secretly knew Charles’ heart was with someone else, she felt like the luckiest girl alive. Fordwich claims that this insight left them with emotional wounds that would influence not only their marriage but also their children’s destiny.
She claimed that it particularly affected Prince Harry, escalating his long-standing animosity toward Camilla and suspicion of the media.
According to People magazine, Camilla was invited to the wedding, most likely because her husband was the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment’s commanding officer.
Richard Fitzwilliams, a royal specialist, told Fox News Digital that she wore a pale gray dress with a veiled pillbox hat, despite the claims that she wore white.
The couple had no rest on the honeymoon. Fitzwilliams claims that despite the public’s ongoing support for Diana, she suffered from bulimia and anxiety.
According to him, the wedding appeared to have gotten out of hand. Diana’s worries that Camilla still posed a threat were only strengthened when she found a bracelet that Charles had given her prior to the wedding.
Fordwich claimed that significant disparities in age, hobbies, and viewpoint caused the fissures in their relationship to develop.
According to her, personality conflicts were apparent even on their honeymoon. The ongoing affair between Charles and Camilla was then made public by the 1989 controversy. The public was stunned, and Charles’ reputation suffered long-term harm.
She went on to say that the British people had not forgotten.
In 1992, Charles and Diana formally parted ways. “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” Diana stated plainly in a seminal 1995 interview with BBC’s Panorama.
In 1996, their divorce was formalized.
Charles and Camilla’s romance was revived following Diana’s untimely death in 1997. They were proclaimed king and queen in 2023 after getting married in 2005.
