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Before Brad and Angelina or Ben and Jennifer, there was Charles and Diana: the OG celebrity couple whose breakup completely and utterly dissolved into a tabloid feeding frenzy. Everyone, everywhere, needed to know why they split—and most importantly, whose side they should be on.
Today, nearly 25 years after their separation, the debate rages on. According to a new book, Charles was the “architect of the disaster” (disaster equals entire relationship of the Prince and Princess of Wales, apparently). Allegedly, Diana felt Charles spent too much time painting watercolors on their honeymoon, so she destroyed his painting set in a fit of rage. Then, reportedly, he wore cuff links with interlocking Cs, which she thought stood for “Charles and Camilla,” meaning ex-girlfriend (and current wife) Camilla Parker Bowles.
But here’s the real kicker: The book’s author, Penny Junor, claims Charles carried a picture of Bowles in his diary, which once slipped out of its pages—right in front of Diana.
“It’s hard to believe that anyone as intelligent and well-read as the Prince of Wales could be so stupid—so utterly incapable of imagining what a new wife might conclude if her husband carried a photograph of his old girlfriend in his diary,” Junor says.
Watercolors, cuff links, and secret diary pictures? Ten points for Team Diana.
But maybe we shouldn’t be picking teams at all. Yes, this latest “revelation” isn’t a flattering portrait of Britain’s crown prince. But, if one goes down the two-decade-old rabbit hole of Charles-Diana divorce content, there’s salacious mud flung from both sides. Charles was in love with Camilla! Diana was a basket case! Affairs, for the both of them! Like a breakup broken record, these rumors repeat and re-emerge time and time again, offering new details but no real conclusions. Because, the bottom line is, the only people who know what happened to Charles and Diana are Charles and Diana. And the only thing we know for certain is that these two people were (at least at times) unhappy with each other.
Yet, on and on the rumor mill goes. Even though Charles has now been married to Camilla longer than he was to Diana. Even though their children are grown up and have their own children. Even though, 20 years ago this August, Diana died in a tragic automobile accident, which has cruelly become a peg for a nonstop gossip resurgence.
So, here’s our official plea to end this miserable Charles-Diana narrative. Life has moved on. We should too. And maybe we should have done it long ago.
But the Meghan Markle marriage reports? Keep those coming.
