Diana and Charles Engagement

I was 19 and got married in 1980 so I don't think it was anything unusual for that age/era but now? I think there would be a lot more questioning of a man of 30s and a young girl of 19.

The Palace needed to be sure the heir to the throne was marrying a virgin. That was why anyone older would have been a problem

yggdrasil

The Palace needed to be sure the heir to the throne was marrying a virgin. That was why anyone older would have been a problem

Why did The Palace need to be sure about that?

Baggs my question also. It would be a tad difficult nowadays!

I doubt if anyone would bother over something so trivial.

I doubt Diana's putative virginity was a consideration, all the Royal Family needed to know was that she wasn't pregnant by someone else!

What was worrying was the fact that the heir to the Throne was over 30 and still unmarried and showing no inclination to marry.

Obviously, if he had married a woman of his own age, there would have been concerns that she might have difficulty conceiving, but he could well have married a woman in her mid-twenties without that being a bother.

Why anyone ever thought a over-sensitive nineteen year old from a broken home a suitable bride for any member of the House of Windsor beats me, and did then.

Why anyone ever thought a over-sensitive nineteen year old from a broken home a suitable bride for any member of the House of Windsor beats me, and did then.

I agree.... but apparently the grandmothers of both of them thought it was a perfect match.

Diana hadn’t only been on the scene for a few months, she lived in Sandringham before they moved to Althorp.

Charles visited Althorp when he was dating Diana’s sister Sarah.

Yes, Annie but she was a child then.

Yes she was 16, and knew the royal family well, the Queen is Godmother to her brother

I know someone who regularly went shooting with the Spencers at Althorp back then. What he has to say casts Diana in a rather different light to the popular perception of the naive virginal young woman. I say no more.

I don’t know why there was such a big emphasis on Diana being a virgin. I realise that she couldn’t possibly be pregnant with another man’s child, but once it was established that she was not, I should have thought that would have been enough. I believe the reason he couldn’t marry Camilla when they were both young was that she wasn’t a virgin.

Camilla was in love with Parker Bowles, it’s all rubbish that she and Charles wanted to marry when they dated.

Has Charles or Camilla ever said they wanted to marry then ? No. All made up by the media and Diana.

If we choose to believe everything printed then we believe the
night before her wedding Diana was so excited, warbling
‘Tomorrow I will be the Princess of Wales. This was said by someone working in Clarence House.

Sparklefizz

^Why anyone ever thought a over-sensitive nineteen year old from a broken home a suitable bride for any member of the House of Windsor beats me, and did then.^

I agree.... but apparently the grandmothers of both of them thought it was a perfect match.

Huh?

You have to meet some sort of criteria in order to be good enough for the Royal family? Are we giving pedigree to humans now and both parents must be shown to potential spouces before buying?

Well it was 40 years ago and she was marrying the heir to the throne. It was fine for Harry to marry a divorcee.

“Parker Bowles” she does have a Christian name Anniebach bit rude calling her that
She Camilla seems one of the nicer more human ‘ royals‘

Anniebach

Diana hadn’t only been on the scene for a few months, she lived in Sandringham before they moved to Althorp.

Charles visited Althorp when he was dating Diana’s sister Sarah.

I meant on the scene as in being a girlfriend of Charles.

Quote BlueBelle Wed 08-Dec-21 14:38:19
“Parker Bowles” she does have a Christian name Anniebach bit rude calling her that
She Camilla seems one of the nicer more human ‘ royals‘

Bluebelle I said Camilla married Parker Bowles

How is it known they were only together a few months Beswitched ?

It's been well documented. Diana also said she had only met Charles a handf of times before the engagement

Oh , Diana said .

Charles had proposed to at least a couple of his girlfriends [ladies the same age as him] and they turned him down. Maybe they knew about Camilla or maybe they didn't fancy the constant, round the clock lack of privacy etc. Kate still doesn't look that comfortable and she is still far too thin. Meghan would and did manage because of her history of being an actress in the public eye. The Countess of Wessex nearly lost the plot when she first married Edward and of course Fergie has never been the same since! I don't think anything prepares you for Royal life, except having been born into it.

The countess of Wessex nearly lost the plot ? Rubbish ,

Did we know that Diana was over sensitive back then, when they got engaged? .

Later on, maybe, but not initially.