Prince Charles and Princess Diana had a huge age gap of 12 years and he reportedly knew that it would be wrong to go ahead with the marriage.
At least half the marriages don't end up as long unions. People get disillusioned, fall out of love, get cheated on, or for some other reason, they move on. But, what if you knew right from the start that you were not compatible and still went ahead with it. Would that be selfish or does it show that you were pressurized by external forces as who willingly goes into an unhappy marriage?
Prince Charles married Lady Diana knowing that they were not compatible, said author and royal commentator, Robert Jobson. In his new book Charles at Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes, and Dreams, he writes that the former wife of Prince Charles was unhappy with him even before they got married, according to Express. The tragic end to their marriage is known largely since both of them had opened up to the public over it.
Prince Charles had acknowledged in front of media that he was having an affair when he was married to Princess Diana, who also told her own version of this story. She told BBC journalist Martin Bashir that there were three people in her marriage, as per The Sun. However, even before this conjugal drama played out publicly, there was deep unhappiness in their hearts.
"I found out extremely new material which was obviously splashed in the civilisation where Charles basically felt he got it wrong over the marriage, which is quite a big statement. It reduces her to tears sometimes that he didn’t have the strength of character at that particular moment to not go ahead with the marriage, which has sort of had a bit of a roller coaster effect upon him due to the pressures of the press and other pressures. He knows that before he married Diana, who was very young, he was much older than her, that they were just not suited as a couple," said Jobson to Express.
Diana was around 12 years younger than him and only 20 when they got married. It had been obvious that he wasn't in love with her. His one-liner during the couple's engagement interview proved that. Charles had flippantly responded, “Whatever ‘in love’ means" when a reporter asked him about their relationship.
"He would go off and do his thing and come back and explain what he was doing to her. But even when they were engaged she would burst into tears. They just were not suited. He knew they were not suited. He knew it was a mistake forehandedly and in the book, I explain that he feels that he should have stopped it," said the author, as per Express.
Another royal commentator and author Ted Powell said that Prince Charles "rushed" into the relationship with her fearing what would happen if he further postponed the marriage. "In his anxiety not to follow Edward’s example, Charles rushed into an ill-judged marriage with Lady Diana Spencer, with disastrous results," he said.
Edward VIII had abdicated the throne in 1936 so he could marry the woman he loved. Due to this decision, Queen Elizabeth II's father, King George VI, took the throne.
Another author, Sally Bedell Smith, dogged biographer and author of Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, said in her book that he was someone who cowered in front of his "original alpha male" father, Prince Philip, according to Town & Country. He spent his whole childhood seeking his father's approval and that could have easily carried into adulthood.
While Charles had his doubts about Diana and their future, he leaned into it completely when his angry father wrote him a letter advising him to make a decision. Propose or let her go, the "alpha" said and Charles, who wanted to do the right thing for "this country and for my family," proposed to her. Diana didn't have any reason to believe that his heart was elsewhere at the time. She accepted without hesitation, as per History Extra.
Charles' long-time partner and now wife, Camilla "had encouraged Charles to marry Diana," Camilla's friend had told biographer Gyles Brandreth. Charles and Camilla had accepted that their relationship, which had fallen into friendship would remain so. Charles later said that he resumed his romantic relationship with Camilla only after his marriage to Diana had broken down.
Smith also believes that he won't abdicate for his son. "Charles will be King and Camilla will be Queen. They will not skip over to William, who is being groomed to become King probably in his late 40s or early 50s," said Smith.
References:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4095068/martin-bashir-princess-diana-interview/
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a9237167/prince-charles-biography/
