Why did Charles ever choose Camilla over Diana?

I'm sure there are thousands interested in Diana. Obviously, those that view these posts are. However, not everyone is going to have the same views.

I thought Diana was delightful. She had one of the most infectious smiles I have ever seen. But, I only know about her life what has been written and televised, as many of us do.

It's not really a matter of not being interested Englishmajor, it's a matter of how we all see things differently.

Nobody said they didn't find her interesting. Interest is one thing... a phobia in another. You have a phobia about anyone who dares to disagree with you. If you have 25,000 in agreement with you elsewhere then why are you here?

I am certainly not phobic. I have many, many interests that are not confined to the limits of A2K!
I find, if you read through all of the posts, 'phobia' coming from lots of people who disagree with me.

Perhaps phobia is the wrong word here. Maybe you can accuse me of obsession? But that's not right either, because I certainly barely give Diana, et al, a thought unless I have nothing else to do for the moment. Just passing curiosity, like the rest of you.

I also as I said before found an appalling lack of compassion for Diana - as one A2K poster noted "a tough room! Poor Diana".

Yes, good question! Why am I here? Because I wrongly thought there would be actual intelligent discussions, and not inferences made about a person's avatar, etc, or those who expressed boredom with the subject (so why are YOU here?)
Labeling people, are you, intrepid? That's a no-no, just ask Momma Angel. Tisk tisk.

Englishmajor,

We have tried to make amends with you. I told you I hold no ill will towards you.

You seem to swoop in an attack and then get upset because you are attacked back. When you make statements like ...I wrongly thought there would be actual intelligent discussions..... that tends to put people off a bit.

You seem to be a very intelligent person. There are plenty of intelligent people here in these threads. Just take what you like and leave the rest. You don't have to agree with anyone and they don't have to agree with you.

Thank you for your quick response, Englishmajor. Your use of the word accuse is a bit harsh on yourself. I did not accuse you of anything. OK, let's change phobia to obsession. Since you only give Diana a thought when you have nothing else to do, you might want to investigate in a hobby or something.

The lack of compassion, that you seem to have found, is perhaps a bit harsh to the good folks that have taken the time to respond to your posts.

You haven't found any intelligent discussion? Perhaps you should have a discussion with Aidan. You seem to be on the same plane.

Why am I here? Well, let's see..... I happened upon this place quite by accident and posted a spontaneous poem that someone immediately replied that they liked. I then posted in other threads on history etc. and became embroiled in heated discussion. I still, however, had respect for my "opponent". I opened myself up to many different threads on many different topics and found that I enjoyed it. Some things I have considerable knowledge in; some things I have some knowledge in; and other things I have no knowledge in. I feel that I can learn something here and maybe even impart something of my own. In short, I like it here.

Oh, and labes are for jars and packages.

Wondering the same thing...

You are so quick to say that everyone is "arguing" with you, and you seem to have so many agendas going on at the same time.

Frankly, I don't feel comfortable saying anything to you mr./ms. english. No matter what is said, you take it as a personal affront.

Tell me, (please), what is it exactly you want us to do? Is there some way you wish for everyone on A2K to behave that will put you at your ease?
Please, by all means, lay out some ground rules for us, we are hopelessly lost and have been awaiting some sort of savior.

From what I can make out, it's some or all of the following.....

Once a thread is started, it seems no one is allowed to deviate one iota from the stated subject.

If it is not a topic that we are ready to fall on our sword to defend, we are not even supposed to enter your holiest of holies.
Thank God I don't think you are able to monitor who exactly is viewing this thread. If one of us poor imbeciles accidently popped in and you knew about it, there would probably be some low-men in black sedans knocking on our front doors this evening to take us away so we no longer insult you with our stupidity.

Are people supposed to just read your posts and say, "yes I totally agree with you", ok, then what?
You don't care for our discussion, saying we are not doing it in the right way. Your way obviously.

Apparantly there are at any given time at least 25,000 other people in the world who are having an intelligent discussion about any manner of things. We here though, seem to be stuck in the mode of sitting in the hallway, banging our heads against the wall and smearing feces on whoever is sitting next to us. I cannot believe how any one of us has survived a month in this life without starving to death or accidently getting our penises caught in an electrical socket.

You repeatedly tell people they should go to another thread if they are not interested....If there are 25,000 people at this very moment discussing this in a far more intelligent manner....Then why in the world are you bothering with us dolts?

You're response to that will likely be another one of your "that is absolutely none of your business" responses, like we're writing this all down in some big log book of englsihmajorisms.

Your list of dislikes goes on ad nauseum.

I have seen people try to go out of their way to be pleasant to you, but you take that as some type of weakness for you to attack.

I would like to tell you something in truth eg, at this point, it's not a matter of people coming on this site to discuss whatever this is all about.....it's about watching you and waiting to see what you're going to come up with next.

As the saying goes, You are like a train wreck.....horrible to watch, but you can look away.

No one is arguing with you, but you just won't stop poking salt into your self inflicted wounds long enough to see you're doing it to yourself.

mr./ms. english, with all due respect, you are not the empress/emperor of A2K.

I'll repeat from another of my posts on here ms./mr. english...LIGHTEN UP ALREADY!

Although according to you I am not even supposed to be here, since I have no real interest in all this, as unbelievable as this will be do you....I do have the option to look in here whenever I want, and I don't have to get your permission.

Good heavens ms/mr english, I am truly ready to like you and be your buddy. Really and truly. Honor Bright. However, you can't keep telling people how they should think, where and when they can post, and what fools and meanies we are.

PLEASE englishmajor, I say this in all sincerity, there are those here who can vouch for me....

Please put down your sword. Please give us a smile. Please be my friend.

Although I don't know what all the fuss is about, I cry pax.

Let's ALL start off on a better foot now.....

Is everyone agreed?

I think it's an excellent idea if I do say so myself.

Count me in Chai Tea!

Chai Tea has a penis??? GASP

That's another story altogether....

ooooo englishmajor, not to change the subject, but I just posted on the what book are you reading now thread.

just read the book "the almond"

have you read it?

please read my post and give your opinion, if you have one.

I missed this. but then perhaps it wasnt difficult?

In all seriousness; how can someone have anything but a superficial interest in Diana Charles etc etc without ever knowing the woman?!
It just seems silly to me. It's entertainment.
How intelligent can gossip really be? I do think of this subject as gossip.

Honestly, like Chai said, I come back to this thread to watch the circus. Cheaper and more fascinating than a tabloid. Yeah, kinda like watching one of those cheap talk shows like Maury or Jerry.

Next episode: Will Charles and Camilla adopt a baby?

I've always been mildly curious about the British Royal Family, born to live in Public View. Charles is certainly not the stereotypical Prince Charming, but for me he has a certain amount of offbeat charm. I have a weakness for kids who don't really fit in.

Diana I could take or leave until her death when I was both fascinated and horrified to discover that millions of people all over the world had made her a focus of their hopes and their dreams and and embodiment of their fantasies.

Archtypical heroines never die from poor decisions and bad luck. Archtypal heroines die because of villainous and nefarious plots.

Once upon a time in a kingdom....

I have a very mild interest in that I have followed some of Charles' involvement in architectural heritage issues - barely enough to trigger my clicking on the thread. I haven't turned off email updates because the dynamics of a2k discussion interest me as much.

Charles is a more complicated man than many people give him credit for. Organic gardeners are useful people.

Yep.

I'm a people-watcher. I'm interested in everything. Call me nosy, call me observant... if I'm at the mall, I'm going to be noting the woman with her arms crossed and brow knitted as her boyfriend talks to another woman whose shirt is just a tad too low-cut, if I'm at the playground I'm going to note how in that family of four kids the oldest seems like quite a nurturer, the second-oldest doesn't seem very happy about the baby, if I'm at a restaurant I'm going to note how that guy in the corner is trying to break up with his girlfriend and is doing a really bad job of it.

I'm just constantly doing that, in general. It's partly a deaf thing in that I'm always very, very aware of my environment, partly my personality. I was well-suited to being an English major, spending my time trying to tease out meaning from various texts.

So I've been interested in the whole Charles-Diana-Camilla thing, too. It's interesting. I wouldn't say it's hugely more interesting than the guy trying, badly, to break up with his girlfriend (he's digging himself ever-deeper into a hole, I can tell, he's not comfortable with silence though and she's not saying anything), but it's interesting.

My take on it is that Charles felt more simpatico with Camilla but understood she was not the kind of material needed for his queen. He has a great sense of tradition and duty, and felt that it was selfish and immature to go with the person he had an affinity for if it was not who was best for the kingdom. (Kingdom?) So he gamely kept an eye out for someone who WOULD fit the bill. This dragged on for a while. People were getting anxious. Charles wanted to do the right thing.

Diana was produced. She fit the bill in many, many ways, and he liked her well enough. Better than many other candidates over the years. There was probably a great deal of either overt or implicit pressure on him from many sources, and he probably should have stood up to that pressure. Again, though, I think he felt that it was irresponsible for him to just follow his heart if what his heart dictated was not what was best for Great Britain/ England/ whatever.

So, he went into it reluctantly but not completely irresponsibly -- that is, I think he did it out of a sense of responsibility.

Diana, meanwhile, was very young, not a fool but not that smart/ sophisticated, and thought more about the glamor of it all than practical limitations. I think she did fall in love with him at least a bit, more than he was in love with her.

I think she was treated terribly in many ways; some of them completely expected, some of them beyond the pale. It can't be a very easy position, for everyone, and I think she was a bit too quick to play the victim. But I also think she was genuinely treated badly.

I think she managed to do a lot of good things especially in her later years, as she figured out a bit more about how to play the game. I think she did some genuinely good and important work.

It makes sense that, having done what he was supposed to do, and having produced an heir and a spare, and after spending so much time on doing what he was supposed to do while all kinds of other people around him didn't and getting fairly sick of putting his own desires at the bottom of the list, Charles now wants to spend time with the person he always felt an affinity with, Camilla. I have nothing in particular against her. I think they both are fairly pragmatic and understand it likely wouldn't have worked before this, but they're both old enough and have been through enough that they're happy to find what happiness they can from now on.

I wish them both the best.

Good post, IMHO

:-)

Yeah, real good.

Thanks.

Gawd Steve....Where have you been?

everybody who's anybody knows about this.

Even Charles and Camilla have had a little chuckle over this from the comfort of their bunk beds. :-)