I agree Helen, the girl was well and truly duped by both her own grandmother and by Charles' grandmother.
This begs the question, in the year 1981 and aged 33 - what kind of human being was/is the Prince of Wales. Has he no sensitivity at all apart from his own feelings and his own future? I agree, for us it is impossible to think 'royal', but their being so out of touch is ultimately going to be their undoing. The royal family exists to exemplify the better aspects of our society - not the worst. Whether he realises it or not, the Prince of Wales is working hard to do the latter.
That's a difficult one. Charles is a very complex man, who, I suspect, is very sensitive, both for himself and towards others. However, your point about being royal and being out of touch is more to the point. Of all the Queen's children, this accusation can be levelled at the Prince with the most justification, then and now. It is quite possible that he feels that he has done his duty in the marriage department once, marrying the Princess and producing progeny, and that now he has earned the wife of his personal choice, as opposed to the one formerly dictated by custom, protocol and, let's not forget, his mistress. I don't know that he exemplifies the worst aspects of our society, but it is difficult to admire him, despite some good intentions
The cruelty perpetrated on that innocent young girl, Diana Spencer, will haunt him for the rest of his life and probably will also have a direct influence on what lies in his future. Whatever Diana was pushed into becoming - she has the advantage of remaining forever beautiful and caring - about the only advantage of dying you. He has become a very old curmudgeon. Old before his time, but there is a price to pay for everything. Camilla might offer him the kind of 'mothering' and solace he seeks, but will she ever manage to sneak into the dark corners of his soul?
tsaria
I suspect that Camilla does know 'the dark corners', as you put it Tsaria. She has known him for a very long time and they have been together longer than most couples are married these days - certainly longer than either of them were married! If she doesn't know these 'dark corners', I suspect that she is likely to find them out, now that they are wed.
I simply cannot understand Helen's assertion that the Wales marriage was doomed even had there been no Camilla on the scene. Diana was a young woman at the time of her marriage and could have developed any which way, given the right circumstances. I suspect as well, that given time, she could even have provided the Prince with the kind of mother/nanny/courtesan input that he so clearly requires from a partner. Diana was an amazingly compassionate woman, and quite far from the dunce that she herself and others have tried to make her out to be. Her personal development in the time that she was Princess of Wales bears testimony to this; from a shy under-educated girl to a sophisticated, compassionate and passionate woman with ideas and opinions of how to make a difference in real terms.
My point is that Charles was never able to put the effort in because it was simply too easy for him to return to what was already on a plate; a woman whose sole purpose in life was to please him and make him feel good about himself. If anything, he was too quick to write his wife off as the woman who could not make him happy and return to the one that he was convinced could do so. If she had not been around, perhaps there might have been some inducement to finding some common ground and compromise in his marriage.........?