Read Online Diana's Nightmare - The Family by Chris Hutchins, Peter Thompson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Chris Hutchins, Peter Thompson
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royals leafed through Victoria's photo albums to decide who the month-old Prince most resembled. Queen Mary was adamant: he looked just like Prince Albert, she declared. Much as he grew to admire Victoria's husband, Charles became more intrigued by his Welsh connections. When he was nine, his mother announced she intended to create him Prince of Wales. He studied Welsh history for years and discovered that he had more Welsh ancestors than many previous holders of the title. One was Cunedda, a fifth-century King of Gwynedd, kinsman of the warrior Owain Ddantgwyn - the legendary King Arthur. Charles was related to his boyhood hero.
As Charles/Arthur grew accustomed to getting his own way, his amorous flings confirmed the view that he didn't really understand the opposite sex very well. This failing came across in his infamous phone call to Camilla. Time and again, she had to reassure him that he was truly loved and madly desired. For a man who had just turned forty-one when the conversation took place, he displayed a disconcerting lack of confidence in his masculinity. Camilla had to play the double role of lover and nanny. His 'dirty talk' clearly gratified his lust while her equally suggestive responses stroked his ego.
When Charles said, 'My luck to be chucked down a lavatory and go on forever swirling around the top, never going down,' psychiatrists had a field day. 'Prince Charles has one particularly significant hobby: collecting lavatory seats,' opined Dennis Friedman in his book INHERITANCE: A Psychological History of the Royal Family. 'To use a lavatory seat it is necessary to turn one's back to it. The lavatory seat becomes a metaphor for his wish to retaliate against all those who, at one time or another, have turned their backs on him - his parents, and now, finally his wife.' This was an interesting theory but what was manifestly true was that his self-worth, one of Diana's buzz words, appeared to be dangerously low. Now forty-four, Charles had come to realise that titles and uniforms were merely disguises which hid his true identity. While people respected his rank in society, he began to doubt that they had much respect for him.
'Once you get out of bed, or before you get into bed, you have to talk about something,' summed up Harry Arnold. 'Charles is interested in culture and nature, he speaks fluent French and he's a man of cultivated tastes who could have taken up many professions. Yet he was married to a woman who rings up Capital Radio and requests songs. I think Camilla gave him what he wanted. Here is a woman saying, "I can never marry you and, in fact, we can never acknowledge our relationship. But I still think you are Mr Wonderful." That is what she did for him.' But Camilla is no longer available and he is wracked with guilt about the humiliation she silently endures. For a time, Charles lapsed into melancholia.
His relations with men are equally fraught. As a noticeably shy boy, he had been terrified of bullies whenever he ventured outside the protective walls of Buckingham Palace. At prep school, he had been called 'Fatty' and 'Big Ears' and ragged about his family. But he had learned to fight back at Gordonstoun and carried a more assertive attitude into the Royal Navy.
His mentor on the manhood issue had been Tricky Dickie Mountbatten, so named because of his duplicity. At Cambridge, Mountbatten had befriended Prince Albert but quickly transferred his affection to his brother Edward, the Prince of Wales. He was a much more glamorous companion than the shy, stammering Bertie. When Edward abdicated, Mountbatten had swung back unashamedly to Bertie, the new King George VI. He had influenced Prince Philip during his formative years and, when the young Charles became a better prospect, traded the father for the son. Dickie's scandalous 'open marriage' to Edwina Ashley, granddaughter of Edward VII's financier friend Sir Ernest Cassel, had wrecked any confidence he had in himself as a husband. He
As Charles/Arthur grew accustomed to getting his own way, his amorous flings confirmed the view that he didn't really understand the opposite sex very well. This failing came across in his infamous phone call to Camilla. Time and again, she had to reassure him that he was truly loved and madly desired. For a man who had just turned forty-one when the conversation took place, he displayed a disconcerting lack of confidence in his masculinity. Camilla had to play the double role of lover and nanny. His 'dirty talk' clearly gratified his lust while her equally suggestive responses stroked his ego.
When Charles said, 'My luck to be chucked down a lavatory and go on forever swirling around the top, never going down,' psychiatrists had a field day. 'Prince Charles has one particularly significant hobby: collecting lavatory seats,' opined Dennis Friedman in his book INHERITANCE: A Psychological History of the Royal Family. 'To use a lavatory seat it is necessary to turn one's back to it. The lavatory seat becomes a metaphor for his wish to retaliate against all those who, at one time or another, have turned their backs on him - his parents, and now, finally his wife.' This was an interesting theory but what was manifestly true was that his self-worth, one of Diana's buzz words, appeared to be dangerously low. Now forty-four, Charles had come to realise that titles and uniforms were merely disguises which hid his true identity. While people respected his rank in society, he began to doubt that they had much respect for him.
'Once you get out of bed, or before you get into bed, you have to talk about something,' summed up Harry Arnold. 'Charles is interested in culture and nature, he speaks fluent French and he's a man of cultivated tastes who could have taken up many professions. Yet he was married to a woman who rings up Capital Radio and requests songs. I think Camilla gave him what he wanted. Here is a woman saying, "I can never marry you and, in fact, we can never acknowledge our relationship. But I still think you are Mr Wonderful." That is what she did for him.' But Camilla is no longer available and he is wracked with guilt about the humiliation she silently endures. For a time, Charles lapsed into melancholia.
His relations with men are equally fraught. As a noticeably shy boy, he had been terrified of bullies whenever he ventured outside the protective walls of Buckingham Palace. At prep school, he had been called 'Fatty' and 'Big Ears' and ragged about his family. But he had learned to fight back at Gordonstoun and carried a more assertive attitude into the Royal Navy.
His mentor on the manhood issue had been Tricky Dickie Mountbatten, so named because of his duplicity. At Cambridge, Mountbatten had befriended Prince Albert but quickly transferred his affection to his brother Edward, the Prince of Wales. He was a much more glamorous companion than the shy, stammering Bertie. When Edward abdicated, Mountbatten had swung back unashamedly to Bertie, the new King George VI. He had influenced Prince Philip during his formative years and, when the young Charles became a better prospect, traded the father for the son. Dickie's scandalous 'open marriage' to Edwina Ashley, granddaughter of Edward VII's financier friend Sir Ernest Cassel, had wrecked any confidence he had in himself as a husband. He
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