Dishes dirt on saintly image of beloved Lady Diana
Camilla, urging her to call him.
Their love affair was rekindled. But, Junor writes, Diana was not willing to let him go so easily. She cultivated reporters, feeding them stories. She alerted photographers to her outings with their sons, William and Harry, burnishing her image as the fun, loving mom.
She also began calling Camilla, late at night, with anonymous death threats: “I’ve sent someone to kill you. They’re outside in the garden. Look out of the window; can you see them?”
It was ugly, and it went on for years. But then the end came — rapidly.
There were dueling embarrassments. First, in 1992, the papers intercepted a phone call between Diana and a lover, in which she railed against “this f-----g family.”
Then came an overheard call between Charles and Camilla. He said he just wanted to “live inside your trousers,” and talked about being reincarnated as a tampon.
Finally, in 1994, Charles gave a TV interview and confessed to seeing another woman — but only after his marriage had “irretrievably broken down.”
The next day, the interviewer confirmed the woman in question was Camilla Parker Bowles. Her husband, though he knew of the affair and maintained a steady stream of girlfriends during their marriage — demanded a divorce.
Diana responded with her own TV interview. She talked frankly about throwing up and cutting herself, admitted to adultery and blamed most of her woes on a relationship the prince had lied about from the start.
“There were three of us in this marriage,” she famously said, “so it got a bit crowded.”
With that, the queen had had enough. She asked her son and daughter-and-law to divorce, as soon as possible, for the good of the country and the monarchy.
By 1996, the fairy-tale marriage came to an unhappy ending.
And then, a year later, so did the life of Diana Spencer — the hugely sheltered, wildly oversensitive, assistant nursery school teacher whose worst mistake, perhaps, was falling in love with love.
If Camilla weren’t already widely loathed, Diana’s martyrdom ensured it.
Yet, Junor suggests, the public’s hatred of Camilla only strengthened Charles’s ties to her. They had always understood each other completely, and now they closed ranks.
Finally, in 2005, they their engagement.
Times had apparently changed. Not only was Camilla now deemed suitable marriage material, the queen herself contributed the ring, a $100,000 diamond.
After the wedding, Camilla began the slow process of winning over the British public. She’s announced making headway. She favors popular hobbies such as horses and gardening. Her charities, including literacy programs and rapecrisis centers, are worthy ones.
And if you doubt she’s won over the press, take a look at the index for “The Duchess.”
Under “Diana, Princess of Wales,” the entries include “insecurity of,” “volatile/bizarre behavior of” and “media war against Charles.”
Under “Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall,” the entries include “attractiveness of,” “friendly/warm personality of” and “caring and compassion of.”
It’s not the usual sort of fairy tale, but Camilla’s finally found her prince. And a happilyever-after ending.