Diana vs Camilla: Affair or True love

Long post alert!!!!!! be warned

 Diana Princess of Wales

The 20 year anniversary of princess Diana’s death came on early in the month of September 2017. I think it was the 4th day of the month not so sure …..anyway there was was quite a build up to the anniversary of her death and everything about her life was put under the microscope and scrutinized and put on display for us all to see from her relationship with the heir apparent all the way to her wedding/marriage, the breakdown of her marriage, her husbands infidelity , her own infidelity, the breakdown of the marriage and eventual divorce, her kids, her charitable works you name it we saw it.

She was supposed to have the fairy tale life as a real life princess married to a real life prince but unfortunately that didn’t happen. In a weird way I regard that as a good thing ‘cos  I think that was tone of  the first times I actually thought to myself that “fairy tales are not real”. Her death was rather tragic and painful but it was definitely an eye opener.

Camilla, Charles and Diana

To a lot of people Princess Diana was and is a saint and so when she died under such horrific circumstances, “amidst a very loud silence from the Buckingham Palace”,  all the pent up anger and the daggers were directed at the Royal family . The Royal family was blamed for her death and even accused of murder. In all these one person particularly took quite a hit in that period. Nicknamed the “rottweiler” in the press, she is what I like to refer to as the third person in the marriage of Diana and Charles and her name is Camilla.

Camilla was an old friend and love interest of Prince Charles long before he got married and I think they even dated at some point but the relationship ended and Camilla got married to someone else.  After Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married all would have been well but for Camilla ……………….

Camilla vs Diana

I can go on and on about Diana and how lovely she was but today my focus is on a particular aspect of the history of ”the Camilla and Diana rivalry’‘ . I’m not going to lie Diana’s death was very painful to me however, despite the fact that I cried when Diana died {or was killed depending on what conspiracy theory you choose to believe} I had never really known the details of the Diana and Camilla story. So, being the ”amebo’‘ that I am, in combination with my obsession with History and Aristocracy I visited google and this led me to sort of disappear down a black hole.

Alice and Edward

So let me take y’all back all the way to year 1898 when the beautiful and delectable Alice Frederica Keppel caught the eyes of Edward, Prince of Wales. This woman was a well known English Socialite and although married to the Honourable George Keppel, she became the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales the heir to the throne and after he became King Edward VII she remained his mistress and was so up until his death. Basically Alice met Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and they had an affair and despite the fact that they were both married to other people, they remained lovers for the rest of their lives. You may be asking “What has this information got to do with Diana and Camilla?” Now let me explain who Alice Frederica Keppel is and why she is important in the Diana and Camilla story.

Alice and Edward vs Camilla and Charles.

Alice Frederica Keppel (née Edmonstone) was a hostess in British society and she was the youngest child of Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet of the Edmonstone baronets in Scotland. Alice and George had two daughters the youngest of whom is Sonia Rosemary Cubitt (nee Keppel).  Sonia  got married to The Hon. Roland Calvert Cubitt and they had three Kids including their only daughter named  Rosalind Maud Cubitt . She (Rosalind Maud Cubitt) in turn got married and also had three children and her first Child goes by the name Camilla Rosemary Shand  who fast forward to today, is HRH The Duchess of Cornwall . Camilla is the second and current wife of Charles, Prince of Wales (the current Heir to the Throne and possible future king of England)……. get it now…..

On the other hand, Edward, Prince of Wales became King Edward VII he died and was succeeded by his second son King George V . King George V, died and  handed over to his eldest son  King Edward VIII who only lasted as  King of England for about a year because he abdicated the throne to marry a two time divorcee {gist for another day}. So Edward VIII  handed over power to his younger brother Albert Later known as King George VI  who is the father of the reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II. And we all know Queen Elizabeth II is the mother to Charles, Prince of Wales and the current Heir apparent.

Summary

• Alice a married woman had and affair with Edward, Prince of Wales and the heir apparent to the throne of England and it lasted from their meeting in 1898 till he became King and until he died in 1910.
• Camilla a married woman had an affair with a married Charles, Prince of Wales and the heir apparent to the throne of England and it lasted from Charles Marriage in 1981 till His divorce in 1996 {Please note they were lovers pre and post his marriage but I choose to call it an affair only in the period he was married}
• Camilla is Alice’s Great-grand daughter and Charles is Edwards Great, Great-grand son.

Finally 

To be honest I am not even sure where I am going with this blog anymore. I initially set out to find out if Diana was as much a victim as the media paints her to be or if she was simply a nice looking girl that fit the ‘victim role’ to sell TV………………anyways………. I think as lovely as Diana was she was simply a victim of a love that was much bigger than her one that transcended just her generation.  I think that going from the history I have dug up there was a connection between the men in the ruling family and the women in Camilla’s family that cannot be explained and unfortunately due to position or pedigree and the conservative nature of society at that time those relationships were not given a chance.

In Alice’s case she was married and broke and so started an illicit affair with the king and became so close to the king that she was at his bedside at the time of his death. In Camilla’s case it is said that Charles met and wanted to marry her but the Palace and the Queen raised objections due to xyz……and before the relationship even started it was highly discouraged and so at the time of Charles’ marriage to Diana, Camilla was already wifed up but obviously their feelings for each other had not changed…. hence the love triangle.

Now, whilst in the past the King would simply have kept a mistress or two to the knowing of the Queen, modern women are not so accommodating; case in point Diana. In Edward and Alices’ case the Queen is rumuored to have even said that Alice was her favourite mistress compared to the others.

However, in the time of Diana and Charles, the world had changed and with it the expectations of a wife from a husband and Diana could not and would not play second fiddle to any woman {I like that}.

The breakdown of Diana and Charles’ marriage was so ugly and so public it was quite embarrassing for the very conservative English Monarchy and everyone especially those of them in the old generation was quite horrified. To give an example, when King Edward VIII  abdicated his throne and caused a scandal Alice herself is said to have remarked “Things were done much better in my day”…. I wonder what she would have done with Diana writing a book and all that came with that……I digress.

Ultimately Diana and Charles’ marriage packed up and so did that of Camilla to her first husband …. and now many years and many hurdles later Camilla and Prince Charles became man and wife in 2005.

In a different place and time and under different circumstances the 47 year old love story of Charles and Camilla could have been a very great love story transcending generations, standing the test of time, surviving each others previous marriages and eventually beating all odds to achieve what their ancestors under similar circumstances, were unable to achieve. Although I am still strongly on the Diana band wagon {she was such a phenomenal woman}, as a woman and as an adult I see Charles and Camilla and how happy they are and can’t help but wonder what I would have done in their shoes. They are happy and I wish’em well.

Charles and Camilla unfortunately, were in a love triangle with a woman who was far from ordinary. Her light shone so bright that everything around her not only paled in comparison but disappeared completely. Anyone who did anything to hurt her was considered the devil. She was selfless and kind and her image was so enormous, at the time of her death she was an institution. I don’t think she was perfect, I think she was a sad woman caught in an unfortunate web and sadly everything ended as it did . All in all I want to wish her a perfect rest in Gods bosom.

Images/References

• www.youtube.com
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.timemagazine.com
• www.google.com
• www.express.co.uk