So verrrry important
Apr. 8th, 2005 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
likethebeerI have to admit that I am not disgusted or angry at Prince Charles for marrying Camilla Parker Bowles. I do not dislike the woman. Of course, I was not devastated by Diana's death. Shocked, but not overwhelmed.
Still, I find something endearing about this 2nd marriage for Charles. The guy has been saddled with a want of charisma for many, many years. Since he went into the Navy, I believe (see, even I pick this stuff up on occasion). Yes, he married Diana b/c she was a virgin and he thought it was a good choice. She was only, what, 19? and was whoefully naive. But she was nowhere near sainthood status, and did things that were destructive. Ok, she was stuck in a horrible marriage and realized her husband was in love w/someone else, but she did learn to use the spotlight to a great degree. And that's a total understatement.
I'm not British, obviously, so I do not have these ingrown senses about Diana v. the rest of "The Royals." But despite it all, despite Prince Charles "pinchyness," his ill-humor and seeming inability after all these years to get along w/the press, which is really one of his few jobs and one he should have been bred for, I have felt sort of sorry for him. He loves a woman, Camilla. He joins the navy and she marries someone else. He can't ask her to get divorced: it's the 1970s and he's still required to find a virgin.
So he does. She's a little unstable. They don't fit. They have 2 kids, he's still in love w/Camilla. His wife starts having lots of torrid affairs and vomiting and cutting herself.
I guess I'm saying that neither party in that marriage was entirely innocent.
And then Diana died. And he can't get married to Camilla b/c of his dead ex-wife. He's trapped. Whatever the crap that happened, the betrayals etc., they were never one-sided. It wasn't just Charles and Camilla. It was Charles, Camilla, Diana, and Diana's half-dozen and really, really ill-chosen lovers.
If I were the Prince of England and Wales, and my ex-wife, "The People's Princess" died, seriously, one of the first things I would have thought would have been, "Oh crap, now I can't marry Camilla."
Now, at least, he gets to marry her, which from what I've heard, is what he wanted 35 years ago. Of course, we wouldn't have babely Prince William walking around if that had happened (ok, well I guess he's actually quite handsome as opposed to babely), but what are you going to do?
And, of course, as luck would have it for Charles, the Pope dies and his funeral is on the date of the planned wedding between Charles and Camilla. Yeah, he can't help it, but I would be thinking, "fucking bloody damn!" if I were him (the "bloody" is in there b/c I figure he would think that if he were thinking all the other things). Oh, and people are calling Camilla a dog and saying horrible things about her looks. She's not Diana. Let's face it: Diana wasn't Diana until she cultivated some good clothing designers around her and loosened up on the hair feathering. Camilla is what I would call handsome. She's not a raving beauty. But she's like 50, and so is her husband, and is Jay Leno a major babe? I think not.
To me, in the end, this is actually a v.romantic story, about 2 people who loved each other and now finally get to be together, formally, in the eyes of the world. I mean, the "wedding of the century" had this "fairy-tale" quality about it. But, if what we hear is true, the relationship between Charles & Camilla is more real and more tangible than some frothy tv spectacle from 24 years ago. They betrayed their marriages, they were caught on tape saying embarrassing things, they've been excoriated by the press, Camilla's been called a man and fugly, and yet they're still getting married. They still hang out and do stuff. Presumably, they still make each other happy. That is one motherfucking cool story, if you ask me [which you didn't, but I'm just using a phrase here]. I hope their marriage lasts. I hope they're together and wonderully loving each other in that old, been-together-forever way until the day they both fucking die.
And, really, it's in the grandest tradition of chivalric novels. What's not to like?
Still, I find something endearing about this 2nd marriage for Charles. The guy has been saddled with a want of charisma for many, many years. Since he went into the Navy, I believe (see, even I pick this stuff up on occasion). Yes, he married Diana b/c she was a virgin and he thought it was a good choice. She was only, what, 19? and was whoefully naive. But she was nowhere near sainthood status, and did things that were destructive. Ok, she was stuck in a horrible marriage and realized her husband was in love w/someone else, but she did learn to use the spotlight to a great degree. And that's a total understatement.
I'm not British, obviously, so I do not have these ingrown senses about Diana v. the rest of "The Royals." But despite it all, despite Prince Charles "pinchyness," his ill-humor and seeming inability after all these years to get along w/the press, which is really one of his few jobs and one he should have been bred for, I have felt sort of sorry for him. He loves a woman, Camilla. He joins the navy and she marries someone else. He can't ask her to get divorced: it's the 1970s and he's still required to find a virgin.
So he does. She's a little unstable. They don't fit. They have 2 kids, he's still in love w/Camilla. His wife starts having lots of torrid affairs and vomiting and cutting herself.
I guess I'm saying that neither party in that marriage was entirely innocent.
And then Diana died. And he can't get married to Camilla b/c of his dead ex-wife. He's trapped. Whatever the crap that happened, the betrayals etc., they were never one-sided. It wasn't just Charles and Camilla. It was Charles, Camilla, Diana, and Diana's half-dozen and really, really ill-chosen lovers.
If I were the Prince of England and Wales, and my ex-wife, "The People's Princess" died, seriously, one of the first things I would have thought would have been, "Oh crap, now I can't marry Camilla."
Now, at least, he gets to marry her, which from what I've heard, is what he wanted 35 years ago. Of course, we wouldn't have babely Prince William walking around if that had happened (ok, well I guess he's actually quite handsome as opposed to babely), but what are you going to do?
And, of course, as luck would have it for Charles, the Pope dies and his funeral is on the date of the planned wedding between Charles and Camilla. Yeah, he can't help it, but I would be thinking, "fucking bloody damn!" if I were him (the "bloody" is in there b/c I figure he would think that if he were thinking all the other things). Oh, and people are calling Camilla a dog and saying horrible things about her looks. She's not Diana. Let's face it: Diana wasn't Diana until she cultivated some good clothing designers around her and loosened up on the hair feathering. Camilla is what I would call handsome. She's not a raving beauty. But she's like 50, and so is her husband, and is Jay Leno a major babe? I think not.
To me, in the end, this is actually a v.romantic story, about 2 people who loved each other and now finally get to be together, formally, in the eyes of the world. I mean, the "wedding of the century" had this "fairy-tale" quality about it. But, if what we hear is true, the relationship between Charles & Camilla is more real and more tangible than some frothy tv spectacle from 24 years ago. They betrayed their marriages, they were caught on tape saying embarrassing things, they've been excoriated by the press, Camilla's been called a man and fugly, and yet they're still getting married. They still hang out and do stuff. Presumably, they still make each other happy. That is one motherfucking cool story, if you ask me [which you didn't, but I'm just using a phrase here]. I hope their marriage lasts. I hope they're together and wonderully loving each other in that old, been-together-forever way until the day they both fucking die.
And, really, it's in the grandest tradition of chivalric novels. What's not to like?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 03:00 am (UTC)About Camilla not being pretty... my gosh, she's ENGLISH. How many truly beautiful English women are there? Even Diana wasn't all that hot, really.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 07:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 12:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 05:44 pm (UTC)I mean, have you ever been to Minnesota? Now there's a place where every woman has a face like a slapped twat.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 04:53 am (UTC)I'm sure all the women in Minnesota currently reading this appreciate your oddly defensive and personal comment. Was your mother English or somethin'?
no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 06:19 am (UTC)Wait... we get to choose?
no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 08:15 pm (UTC)Otherwise, you've got the situation well summed up. I was never much of a fan of Di's. She'd been scheming to become queen since her first adolescent fantasies.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 07:15 am (UTC)One thing tho, that I think you should know: Prince Charles actually has a rather enormous job, that of running the family lands as its chief executive. Something that had not been done well in generations. The family lands now employ more people than ever, turn a profit and produce consummables sold in the UK. He's a very successful businessman. Something the peasants don't think enough of.
I think he's also been a good father.
And, his marriage to Diana was pretty close to arranged. Camilla was early on not deemed suitable. I hope he will be very happy.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 02:56 pm (UTC)And, yeah, I think he's been a good father, also. Another way in which his dead ex-wife has overshadowed him.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-09 06:54 pm (UTC)Let the press move on to poor young William, and Charles can go live out the next 30 years with the woman he loves.