Prince Charles once memorably said: ‘I personally feel that a good age for a man to get married is around 30.’ And it was clear he intended to meet this self-imposed deadline. The future King set about the task with enthusiasm – and a string of close friendships and relationships with princesses, heiresses and even a second cousin until, in 1981, he finally married Lady Diana Spencer. If some were fleeting romances, other relationships were more serious. Charles had popped the question no fewer than three times by the time he met his first wife. Famously, there was even a long on-and-off relationship with Camilla Shand, now Queen Consort. This had originally ended in heartbreak for the prince. He had been away serving with the Royal Navy when, in 1973, he heard that Camilla had become engaged to glamorous Army Officer, Andrew Parker Bowles. Here, MailOnline takes a look at the long list of the women who might – if only for a moment – have imagined they’d one day be Queen. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Camilla Shand – The love story between King Charles and his wife Camilla, Queen Consort began more than five decades ago. The pair first met when they were both in their early 20s. It has been suggested that Camilla had quipped to the future King: ‘My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common.’ Over the next few years, the pair became romantically involved. Some royal biographers have suggested Camilla had an ulterior motive – to make her future husband, Andrew Parker-Bowles, jealous. Known as a ladies man, Parker-Bowles had conducted his own on-off relationship with Camilla – but had been dating other women at the same time, including some of her friends and Charles’s own sister, Princess Anne. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
In her book The Duchess: The Untold Story, Penny Junor wrote: ‘There was certainly an element of tit-for-tat in Camilla’s fling with Charles. Indeed, her principal motivation was to have some excitement and make Andrew jealous. She knew the affair with Charles would never go anywhere, could never go anywhere.’ They continued to date on and off until 1973, when Charles was sent away on HMS Minerva as part of his Royal Navy training. It was while he was away that Camilla became engaged to Andrew Parker-Bowles. Heartbroken, Prince Charles begged Camilla not to marry Andrew the week before her wedding, wrote Ms Junor. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Camilla and Charles remained friends, with royal biographers suggesting it was purely platonic for a time. Charles became godfather to Camilla’s son, Tom. In 2003 the couple moved into Clarence House together before getting married in 2005. They celebrated their 18th anniversary this year. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Lady ‘Kanga’ Tryon – In 1966, a 17-year-old Charles spent two terms studying at at Geelong Grammar School in the Australian state of Victoria. This is where he first met Dale Harper, daughter of a wealthy Melbourne printing mogul. Some years later, she moved to Britain to become a PR officer for Qantas airlines. She also became the wife of the banker Anthony Tryon, third Baron Tryon, an associate of Prince Charles. In the early 1970s, around the same period he was seeing Camilla, Lady Tyron – nicknamed ‘Kanga – was also in the picture. Charles was said to have described her as ‘the only woman who ever understood me,’ but some suggest claim is thought to have begun with Kanga herself. Sadly Lady Tyron died just a few months after Princess Diana. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Lady Jane Wellesley. After his old flame Camilla Shand married Andrew Parker Bowles in July 1973, Charles moved on. The next subject of his attention 22-year-old Lady Jane Wellesley, the only daughter of the Duke of Wellington. Charles had known Jane since childhood. At the time, many suggested she was in a good position to become Charles’s bride. The rumor mill really got going when Charles flew out to Spain to join the Wellingtons on a shooting holiday. At the time, Lady Jane denied there was any romance, stating that the two were ‘just good friends.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Few believed her, however. Photographers and reporters camped outside her small terraced house in Fulham and 10,000 people jammed the Norfolk roads around Sandringham during the New Year’s Eve festivities in an attempt to see the woman who could be the country’s future Queen. She did not enjoy being in the royal spotlight, reportedly saying to Charles: ‘I don’t want another title — I’ve already got one, thank you.’ After being questioned over the couple’s (supposed) impending engagement, she once snapped back, according to Tatler: ‘Do you honestly believe I want to be Queen?’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Davina Sheffield. Following the end of his earlier relationship with Camilla, Charles was eager to be married before 30. He began dating Davina Sheffield, a 5ft 10in blonde with a beautiful smile. She was a cousin of Samantha Sheffield, who went on to become the wife of the former Prime Minister David Cameron. Charles was smitten with Davina, so much so that he invited her to Balmoral for the weekend. A friend told The Daily Mail at the time: ‘She and Charles were wonderful together.’ Davina even earned the approval of the Queen Mother. But their relationship was thrown off course when an ex-boyfriend, powerboat racer James Beard, revealed that he had lived with Davina before she started dating Charles. This brought their relationship to an abrupt end as royal tradition suggested that Charles would need to marry an ‘unblemished’ bride. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg – In June 1977, the Daily Express was confident that ‘Prince Charles is to marry Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg’ – and put it on the front page. Marie was the daughter of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Princess Josephine Charlotte, daughter of the former King Leopold and Queen Astrid of Belgium. At the time she was considered to be one of the only eligible Princesses in Europe. The Express reporter wrote: ‘The formal engagement will be announced from Buckingham Palace next Monday. The couple’s difference of religion – she is a Roman Catholic – will be overcome by a novel constitutional arrangement: any sons of the marriage will be brought up according to the Church of England while daughters will be raised in the Catholic faith.’ The piece said that the Queen and Prince Phillip had ‘assented to this procedure, which also has the approval of Church leaders.’ However, the scoop was untrue. Indeed, the final line of the story read: ‘Last night Buckingham Palace denied there was to be an announcement of an engagement.’ The prince had only seen the princess briefly at his investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969 and then again briefly in his university days. The rumors led Charles to authorize a Palace press statement, which said: ‘They are not getting engaged this Monday, next Monday, the Monday after or any other Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. They do not know each other, and people who do not know each other do not get engaged. The Royal Family do not go in for arranged marriages.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Lady Sarah Spencer – Before he married Diana Spencer, he dated her older sister, Lady Sarah in 1977. For a while, Lady Sarah became the centre of speculation surrounding Charles’s engagement plans. But those rumors were put to an abrupt end in 1978 while she was on a ski trip with the Prince in the Swiss resort Klosters. She told reporters it was a ‘marvelous holiday but there’s no question of an engagement’. According to Time magazine, Lady Sarah said: ‘There is no chance of my marrying him. I’m not in love with him. And I wouldn’t marry anyone I didn’t love whether he were the dustman or the King of England.’ It was during a shooting party the same year at the Spencer’s Althorp estate in Northamptonshire that 29-year-old Charles met 16-year-old Diana. Ahead of Charles and Diana’s wedding, in 1981 Sarah said: ‘I introduced them. I’m cupid.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Sabrina Guinness – Sabrina Guinness was believed to be the ‘it’ girl of her generation, a beautiful woman with long legs and a bright mind. She was a Guinness heiress thanks to her father, James Guinness, who worked on the banking side of the billionaire brewery firm. It was first speculated that Charles and Sabrina might be more than friends when they attended the musical Ain’t Misbehavin.’ In 1979 they were seen fishing, riding and shooting together. She was said to be the ‘liveliest’ of Charles’s fancies. It all came to a crashing end, however, when Sabrina allegedly failed the so-called ‘Balmoral Test.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
The Queen was displeased that she had decided to sit in Queen Victoria’s chair and was snubbed by Prince Philip. Upon arriving at Balmoral, the heiress joked that the transport bringing her to the castle was like a Black Mariah – a type of police van. Unamused, the Prince snapped back: ‘Well, you’d know all about Black Mariahs, wouldn’t you?’ The relationship failed to flourish after this rocky start, leading them to break up nine months into their courtship. Sabrina went on to date countless A-listers from all over the world, including Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Michael Douglass and Rod Stewart. She remained single for 34 years until she married the playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, 17 years her senior, in 2013. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Lady Amanda Knatchbull – Lady Amanda Knatchbull was another woman to whom Prince Charles had proposed. As second cousins, the pair already each other through her grandfather, Lord Mountbatten, who was Prince Philip’s maternal uncle, and close to Charles. Before his death, Lord Mountbatten had encouraged Charles’s to propose to Amanda. While dating, they were seen in the Bahamas together. In his 2007 biography, Charles – The man who will be King, wrote how fond Lady Amanda was of the future monarch. He said: ‘She was equally impressed with his energy, enthusiasm, sense of fun, kindness and modest self-deprecation,’ he wrote. ‘She was indeed a very sensible and loving girl, who genuinely did share all the same interests as the heir to the throne.’ In 1980, having passed his self-ordained deadline to be married by 30, Charles proposed to Amanda. Less than a year earlier, Amanda had lost her younger brother, Nicholas, and her beloved grandfather Lord Mountbatten in an IRA assassination on August 27 1979. In Robert Lacey’s book, Battle of the Brothers, he explained: ‘Over the years the two cousins did grow close, developing a mutual respect and friendship that has lasted to the present day. ‘But when the prince finally made his proposal in the summer of 1979—shortly before Lord Mountbatten’s assassination by the IRA—the independent-minded Amanda politely turned him down.’ ‘The surrender of self to a system,’ she explained, was so absolute when joining the Royal family, it involved a loss of independence ‘far greater than matrimony usually invites.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
Anna Wallace – Anna Wallace became known as the woman who Charles proposed to twice. The daughter of wealthy Scottish landowner Hamish Wallace, Anna was dubbed by the press ‘Whiplash’ because of her fearless attitude and great horsemanship. In 1980 the couple started dating but after a year the relationship ended following a furious row at a ball to honor the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday. She had largely been ignored by Charles during the event, Tatler reported. Not only that, the Prince of Wales had spent much of the night dancing with former lover Camilla Parker Bowles. It was reported at the time that she had shouted: ‘I have never been so badly treated before in my life. No one treats me like that. Not even you.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11858011/The-long-list-women-linked-Prince-Charles-finally-married-Diana.html?ito=msngallery
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