Diana and Charles Engagement

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

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.

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

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.

“ an almost empty Bath”. ?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I think it was definitely manipulated, although there is some suggestion that Diana's grandmother initially warned her to be sure she understood what she was getting in to.

But a more responsible family would have stepped in very quickly and put a stop to the whole thing, and made it clear to the royal family that their daughter /granddaughter was not going to be used as a brood mare and convenient bride for Charles.

The Spencer family wanted the marriage. Brood mare is offensive.

Charleygirl5

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

It would have been quite a problem in the early 1980s too. I wonder of that applied when Elizabeth married Philip, was he expected to lack experience?

But accurate. The fact is she was soon pregnant.

Beswitched

I think it was definitely manipulated, although there is some suggestion that Diana's grandmother initially warned her to be sure she understood what she was getting in to.

But a more responsible family would have stepped in very quickly and put a stop to the whole thing, and made it clear to the royal family that their daughter /granddaughter was not going to be used as a brood mare and convenient bride for Charles.

I think that her father was very keen to get one of his daughters into Charles' bed, Sarah flunked it so it was down to Diana. She herself seemed very keen and her family could have stepped in had they not been so ambitious. The whole thing was a disaster waiting to happened from the crushed meringue she wore for her wedding, it left both of them unhappy. Lessons seem to have been learned, at least with William and hopefully his children will have a similar freedom.

Pregnant after four months married so a brood mare ! It was 3 months after marriage for me.

I meant, as I think you know, that the royal family just wanted Charles to marry someone suitable who would quickly produce an heir to the throne. Therefore they were treating her like a brood mare and not as a human being with feelings and rights.

I have read that Diana tried to get out of the wedding but her sisters told her the tee-towels had been printed! She had also discovered that Camilla was in the picture.

Just to say - I was a honeymoon baby and mum was always embarrassed when I reminded her!

Brood mare in the sense that that was why he married her. I remember the relentless press coverage of Charles and his ‘angels’. He was under extreme pressure to get married and provide the heir to the throne. Can you imagine facing Phillip and explaining why you couldn’t do your duty and get married. I think Charles had to give in and marry a virgin, someone who was able to provide an heir quickly and without any prior experience so there would be no question of paternity. Diana was given no help at all from anyone.
If you look back at royal marriages they were all apart from the Queen’s for dynastic reasons. What cemented their families position and wealth was more important than the bride and groom.
It’s a bit like my mum being told off for not marrying Harry from the shoe shop instead of my far more impoverished dad. Harry went on to own a chain of shops and could have kept my mum in a style to which she would have liked to become accustomed. It was a family joke for years and years.

No one heard of unexplained infertility

Not sure what your point is.

I think Annie’s point is that however suitable a young woman may appear to be in terms of being able to have children, no one can predict unexplained infertility. In other words, there’s no reason apparent as to why some couples just cannot have a child, even after multiple rounds of IVF.

I should add that therefore it was impossible to be able to predict that Diana would be able to have children, or indeed, if Charles would be able to have children.

Of course she was used as a brood mare.
She was expected to turn a blind eye to her husband having a mistress.
Still, she died a very convenient death.
I don't think Charles and Camilla on the throne will be very popular, certainly not with a younger generation from what I hear.