Diana and Charles Engagement

The Spencers were very close to the royal family, both her grandmothers were lady in waiting to the Queen mother.

They lived in Sandringham until her father inherited Althorp.
The Queen was a guest at the parents wedding, is Godmother
to Charles Spencer.

Diana’s maternal grandmother supported Charles Spencer for
custody of the children.

Sarah Spencer dated Charles, it ended when she spoke to the
press.

I don’t know, but could it not be it was all manipulated by the Queen Mother who Charles adored ,the grandmothers and Johnnie Spencer . Diana adored her father.

Beswitched - I think you hit to spot there, Diana had no one protecting or looking out for her. Her parents acrimonious divorce, the reports of her escorting her brother on train journeys to visit their mother, when both were young children paint a picture of the extent of emotional care or protection.

M0nica

beswitched At the time I felt all the disquiet you mention - and plenty of others did as well, and it was reported in the papers, but we were a minority.

On the wedding day I took the children to Bath for the day because I felt this was a marriage doomed to failure before it started because the couple had little in common, and the idea of therefore celebrating the marriage made me feel quite ill.

I was a teenager when the marriage took place, younger than Diana and not particularly worldly wise. Yet it was blindingly obvious to me that Charles was marrying her because she was suitable and not because he was in love with her.
I couldn't understand all the adults gushing about how in love they were, how romantic it all was etc.
It was clearly a marriage between a teenager with a crush and a man who was under pressure to get a wife.

I agree it wasn't so much the age difference itself as the stage of life they were both at.

A teenager and an early thirty something are poles apart in a way a 40 year old and a 52 year old wouldn't be.

I think it was incredible, looking back, that this relationship was allowed to proceed to marriage by Diana's family. She really had no one protecting her or watching out for her, did she?

Kate is fortunate to have a close and stable family, and I do think that has given her some control over the way she's treated by the Palace.

Quote Summerlove Thu 09-Dec-21 02:34:29
Anniebach
At 17 I began a relationship with a 28 year old man , certainly no power involved.
Were you dating the heir to a throne?
No? Then it’s not the same. Which you know, but doesn’t fit into your narrative to always put certain women down

We were discussing young girls and older men Summerlove
best read all posts not just select one you can snipe at.

“ an almost empty Bath”. ?

It wasn't so much the age difference in itself. There have been many happy and successful marriages, where there is a large age difference. It was the fact that he was a very worldly and experienced man and she was still a very young and rather naive and immature girl.

Add to that the fact that it was clear they had little or nothing in common, and the disynchronous body language and Prince Charles' very less than enthusiastic comments in the engagement interview. A marriage made in heaven, it clearly wasn't.

As I said we went out for the day and had an almost empty Bath to ourselves. It was great.

Anniebach

At 17 I began a relationship with a 28 year old man , certainly no power involved.

Were you dating the heir to a throne?
No? Then it’s not the same. Which you know, but doesn’t fit into your narrative to always put certain women down

beswitched At the time I felt all the disquiet you mention - and plenty of others did as well, and it was reported in the papers, but we were a minority.

On the wedding day I took the children to Bath for the day because I felt this was a marriage doomed to failure before it started because the couple had little in common, and the idea of therefore celebrating the marriage made me feel quite ill.

The age difference, his much wider life and sexual experience plus if course Charles being the future king my equal a power imbalance between him and Diana.
They both had childhoods that left them emotionally rather incompetent. A marriage waiting to be a disaster, played out in the public eye.

If we are focussed on the merry wives of Windsor, I’ll add my two penalty. Kate and Meghan are good looking, intelligent, young women. I hope Meghan (and Harry) will be happy in the USA.
Kate seems to be a grounded, sensible, emotionally intelligent young woman. She dresses so well for any occasion. She has Diana’s gift with people and children. Video of her interacting with ‘the public’ suggest she works hard, enthusiastically and with enjoyment.
She obviously loves her children

Yep.
Just to divert the thread from pages and pages of vitriol about a dead woman, which I believe (perhaps wrongly) was the way it would end up.

MissAdventure

I don't care what any of them look like, actually.
It's just that diana has been dead for years, the forum is miserable, and people getting wound up about the royals seems a sure way to make it more dismal.

Yet you were the one who brought Diana's looks into the discussion.

They're all very attractive women, but I think Kate is the most naturally beautiful. Diana was reasonably good looking but scrubbed up well and was very photogenic. Meghan, who I have also met on real life, is very good looking but not as good looking ad Kate.
I actually think Sarah Ferguson was more naturally good looking than Diana but didn't have her graceful build and innate elegance.

Yes I am not sure my 'beauty' is likely to catch the eye of any of the royal family so I probably dont need to worry about developing issues.

I'm no oil painting myself

Being plain as a pikestaff myself, I think they're all just stunningly beautiful.
?

This thread proves that ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’.

Germanshepherdsmum

Meghan is attractive I think but not a patch on Kate.

I think Kate's beauty comes from within. She seems very comfortable with herself.
Meghan's appearance seems more self-conscious.
Diana was very striking and she certainly knew how to turn heads!

At 17 I began a relationship with a 28 year old man , certainly no power involved.

I was in an age gap relationship with an older man in my late twenties and it's very much about power. I think it must be almost impossible as a teenager.

It's about the power, too, as well as the age gap, I think.

I have thought about this too.Today i think it would not have been accepted as it was then.I got married at 18 in 1985 and it seemed normal then but i wasnt marrying a man in his 30s.If my daughers had wanted to get married at 18 or even 20 i would have said they were too young or is it just that teens seem very immature nowadays and are mollycoddled too much.

Meghan is attractive I think but not a patch on Kate.

I didn’t think Diana was beautiful either. I think Kate’s stunning. How could anyone say she’s mediocre? Beautiful and clever too.

Me too.
She is the only one I would say is genuinely pretty.