King Charles
His divorce from Diana sealed the end of the “family monarchy”.
King Charles
© Matthew Horwood / Getty Images
With King Charles, a turning point has arrived in the British royal family. Not only his plans to streamline the monarchy are currently occupying British royal experts. His status as a divorced and remarried man, which is said to have heralded the end of the Queen’s “family monarchy”, is also a topic of conversation.
Queen Elizabeth, †96, and Prince Philip, †99, were married for 73 years. On November 20, 1947, the two said yes in London’s Westminster Abbey – and with this bond sealed a “family monarchy”, as the author Tessa Dunlop stated in an interview with “Mirror”. King Charles, 74, on the other hand, sealed her end with his divorce from Princess Diana, † 36.
King Charles: His parents stood for family values
“75 years ago, Princess Elizabeth walked down the aisle with her war hero husband Philip,” Dunlop now looks back on the occasion of the new era in the British royal family. “The stunning couple were instant trendsetters – 200 million listened to the wedding of the decade [sie wurde im Radio übertragen, Anm. d. Red.] in a record year to tie the knot.” Things couldn’t have gone better for the monarchy, as the historian puts it: “Britain’s pin-up family, the House of Windsor, had reached dizzying new heights. Within a year, Prince Charles was born, the original baby boomer; his arrival sealed the deal for the family monarchy.”
Apparently this affected the British people as well. “In this nuclear family era, divorce laws haven’t changed for over twenty years,” explains Dunlop. The queen and her husband symbolized the ideal of a stable partnership. “Regardless of what happened behind closed doors, Elizabeth and Philip were the perfect couple in a rapidly changing society.”
“Charles is the product of his generation”
However, her firstborn was in a difficult position. “By 1980, the pressure on Charles was enormous. Britain wanted another royal wedding. On the surface, his marriage looked like the perfect second act – another blushing bride with her sailor prince,” Dunlop describes supposed moment of relief when the heir to the throne of the then twenty-year-old Diana Frances Spencer put on the ring.
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“But times had changed,” the author recalls. “Divorce was rampant, celebrity culture distorted, infidelity unacceptable. Charles and Diana’s massive wedding ended in massive failure. The family monarchy crumbled.” Charles’ second marriage to Queen Camilla, 75, which has now lasted 17 years, does not change that.
Will the king unite the nation?
However, Dunlop does not dare to blame the current king. “Charles is a product of his generation, just like his parents are of theirs.” Nevertheless, the royal expert apparently has a slight doubt about his ability to unite the people in his kingdom, as his parents once did as a strong duo. “Can our Everyman King find a new brand that is as strong as the family monarchy?” she wonders – and is only cautiously optimistic: “Let’s hope so for the good of our divided nation.”
Source used: mirror.co.uk