Many who are well-wishers of the British Royal Family look forward to a reunion of the entire family, with Queen Camilla mending her broken ties with Harry, so that he and his family return to the Royal Family.
Imagine a young lady barely of legal age for being considered an adult adorning her head with sprigs and hiding behind flowerpots in a stately mansion in order to catch a glimpse of the Prince of Wales as he arrived at the Earl of Spencer’s manor.
The prince was expected at the mansion to meet her elder sister in the context of a betrothal with her should all go well. The younger sister, Lady Diana Spencer, was asked to remain out of sight until the Prince of Wales left after his visit. When he arrived, his attention was drawn to a beautiful girl hiding behind some flowerpots away from the entrance, and after shaking hands with the elder sister, made a foray to where Diana was hiding and smiled. Diana was mesmerised by the Prince, and she curtsied to him, at which his smile grew broader.
Prince Charles was not one for courtly formalities, and did not carry around him the airs that usually accompany those who ultimately would be King of the United Kingdom. When the invite came for tea at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and Charles, it was not for the elder daughter of the Earl but for the younger. Diana went and was fetchingly awed by the ceremony and grandeur of her hosts, even as Queen Elizabeth gently quizzed her about herself while Charles mostly looked at her and smiled at the innocence of Lady Diana Spencer.
Those tasked to find a spouse for Charles had to locate a young woman who had not yet had physical relations with a man. Lady Diana qualified on that score, and her looks and charmingly innocent ways convinced Queen Elizabeth that her eldest son Charles had found the perfect match. After the Royal approval from the matriarch of Buckingham Palace and Sovereign of the United Kingdom, matters moved rapidly and 1980 saw the Wedding of the Century, with Prince Charles and Lady Diana.
Much of the world was entranced, and his spouse produced two sons for Charles, William and Harry. By the time Harry was born, there were scandals floating about that he was the offspring of a dashing Equerry of the Royal Family and not Charles, but this is unlikely. Diana treasured her role as Princess of Wales and would not have “let down the house” while she was married to Charles by having a child that was not from Charles. Later the marriage fell apart, and divorce followed, with Diana taking revenge on the Royal Family by a boisterous lifestyle.
She was photographed in a swimsuit with Dodi Fayed, himself clad in swimming trunks, on his yacht, with Princes William and Harry nearby. The photograph did not go down well with the Queen, who had wished there had not been such a separation, and who began turning against the “feckless” Diana after she saw that her grandchildren were being exposed to the unforgivable (in the view of the Queen) foibles of their mother Diana, former Princess of Wales. After all, William was the heir to the throne after Charles became King, and Harry in case William was incapacitated before becoming the King. Of the two sons, it had been Harry, the youngest, who was most attached to his mother, while William was in love with the prospect of Kingship. As also with Kate Middleton, a South African British girl who came from “common” stock, unlike Diana, but who was sincere in conforming to the constraints of Royal life. Diana, accompanied by Dodie, died in a car crash in the underwater road spanning the English Channel. There was talk of a murder, even that Diana was carrying the unborn child of Dodi, but such talk was fantasy. Diana wanted to evade the paparazzi who were chasing the car she was travelling in on motorbikes, and Dodie asked the driver to speed up. He did so, the car crashed on the side of the tunnel, and Dodie and Diana were killed because they were not wearing seatbelts unlike the driver, who was therefore saved by the protective airbags that come when there is a crash and seatbelts are being worn. If seatbelts are not fastened, no airbag comes in a crash, which is what happened to Dodie and Diana, who were often travelling in fast cars as passengers, but without fastening their seatbelts.
Turn to 1970, when at an informal party Prince Charles met Camilla, a feisty, attractive girl. Just as Diana fell instantly in love with Charles, he did with Camilla. Both were in love with each other but Queen Elizabeth was against the match and refused permission. She wanted to choose her future daughter-in-law and not be confronted with a girl who was rumoured to have had lovers previous to meeting Charles. Perhaps the gossip were wrong, but either way, Charles did not care. He loved Camilla from the start and she loved him. For both Camilla and later Diana, Charles was the love of her life, as was she with the Prince of Wales. However, Queen Elizabth was unmoved and refused the match after consultation with her staff that Camilla was not “Princess of Wales” material. The refusal was an error by the straitlaced Queen, as was her opposition to her younger sister Margaret marrying her love, Group Captain Townsend, an Equerry of the Palace.
Both Margaret and Charles were warned of the forfeit of their Royal privileges were they to marry Townsend or Camilla. The Group Captain was transferred out far from the United Kingdom, and Charles dithered concerning his marrying Camilla and losing all his Royal prerogatives and privileges. Finally, Camilla had had enough, and she married the stolid Catholic Parker-Bowles, and produced his children. The marriage of Camilla wrecked the happiness of Charles, who later finally agreed to the choice of his mother as her daughter-in-law, Lady Diana Spencer, whom he liked but not loved. Camilla was his only love, married or not, just as Charles was the only love of Diana, not Dodi.
Queen Elizabeth caused much unhappiness among her family, her sister and her son, by refusing to allow them to marry those they loved. Princess Margaret later married Antony Armstrong-Jones, a fashion photographer, who was ennobled and whose children she bore. So far as the offspring of Charles was concerned, William met, loved and married Kate Middleton, a British girl whose family had settled in South Africa. Both the families approved the match, for Kate was of solid British stock.
Unlike Meghan Markle, who was not entirely of European descent, who met, fell in love and got married to Prince Harry, who had two children by her, Archie and Lillibet, the nickname of Queen Elizabeth. Prince Harry was clearly unhappy at the inner unhappiness of his mother Diana on her divorce from Charles, and took out his frustration at the breakup of his parents in a book that all but called Camilla an evil woman, which she was not.
Now King, Charles was outraged, but recently he met his younger son, his daughterin-law and their children in Highgrove Estate, the country home of Charles and Camilla. The Queen was absent, as was Prince William and his wife and children, but King Charles was clearly delighted at meeting Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lillibet.
Many who are well-wishers of the British Royal Family look forward to a reunion of the entire family, with Queen Camilla mending her broken ties with Harry, so that he and his family return to the Royal Family, or “the Firm” as the Royal Family is often called. Exiling themselves from Royal duties was a mistake that Harry and Meghan need to leave behind.
In a multi-ethnic United Kingdom, and not just a multiethnic Commonwealth, such a reconciliation would fit in perfectly with the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times. William and Kate together with Harry and Meghan would reflect this world far better than a divided Family, which is what the Windsors unfortunately are at present.
