Speculation for Season Two of Feud: NOT Charles and Diana

[formerlyfreedom]

The place to start talking about the second season of Feud.

[hippielamb]

On 4/7/2017 at 1:36 PM, TigerLynx said:

I don't know why they want to do a SL on Charles and Diana.   That story has been covered forwards and backwards and inside out.  I did think it was interesting that Andrew Parker Bowles seems to be the only one with half a brain.  Andrew knew Camilla was cheating on him with Charles, and Andrew was cheating on Camilla with other women.  While everyone else was telling Charles to marry Diana, and people told Diana she couldn't back out, she had to go through with the wedding, Andrew told Charles if he was going to bring another person into the situation, he had better make sure she would understand and be okay with it, or things would not go well for any of them.

I think Andrew had the right attitude about it. The problem was that Diana was marrying for love and didn't realize the situation she was getting into. She didn't have Andrew's philosophy nor probably his knowledge about Camilla and Charles. I love anything royal so will definitely watch, hopefully they will have a new perspective on it. If it's anything like Bette and Joan, no one is completely right. Both parties have their flaws and sympathies. 

[psychoticstate]

Ultimately the problem with Charles and Diana was they were completely ill suited for one another.  They had nothing in common.  Charles was 12 years older (but seemed much older than that), very serious and studious and, if the decision had been his and his alone, would not have married.  I think he was perfectly happy being a royal bachelor having an affair with the married Camilla. 

Diana was still a teenager and an emotionally young one at that. I think she was looking to be taken care of (in every sense) and Charles was absolutely the wrong person for that. He was used to having everything done for him and with no objections. Even Camilla knew her "place."  Diana was not the quiet little mouse she was reported to be. 

On paper, she looked perfect.  She wasn't a commoner, she had rubbed elbows with the Royal Family her entire life, she was Anglican, she could bear children and she appeared to have no romantic past. She was also young enough to mold into the "perfect" wife for Charles. 

Besides just being ill suited from the start, I think her popularity made him resentful and jealous.  He was used to being the center of attention then she came along and everyone was interested in Diana, Diana, Diana.  

[enoughcats]

How about that Feud, and don't cast Charles OR Diana.  Just make it about their feuding personal staffs and friends.  There's plenty there, without ever having either of them on stage. 

[One Imaginary Girl]

I see this season adopting the oversized and melodramatic style of the prime-time soaps of the era--Dynasty, Dallas, Falcon Crest--but with some insights into their relationship, the whole concept of royalty, and so on.  Bring on the Laura Ashley, I say.

[qtpye]

12 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

Ultimately the problem with Charles and Diana was they were completely ill suited for one another.  They had nothing in common.  Charles was 12 years older (but seemed much older than that), very serious and studious and, if the decision had been his and his alone, would not have married.  I think he was perfectly happy being a royal bachelor having an affair with the married Camilla. 

Diana was still a teenager and an emotionally young one at that. I think she was looking to be taken care of (in every sense) and Charles was absolutely the wrong person for that. He was used to having everything done for him and with no objections. Even Camilla knew her "place."  Diana was not the quiet little mouse she was reported to be. 

On paper, she looked perfect.  She wasn't a commoner, she had rubbed elbows with the Royal Family her entire life, she was Anglican, she could bear children and she appeared to have no romantic past. She was also young enough to mold into the "perfect" wife for Charles. 

Besides just being ill suited from the start, I think her popularity made him resentful and jealous.  He was used to being the center of attention then she came along and everyone was interested in Diana, Diana, Diana.  

This is everything in a nutshell.  The tragedy of their marriage could have been easily avoided if not for archaic customs and traditions.

Her popularity must have confounded him.  Understandably, like many people of his station, he probably think of himself as just naturally fascinating.  However, he has never been someone gifted with the easy charisma that really makes a person a star.  Now, he unwittingly married himself to someone who had that in spades.  He thought he had an easily moldable mouse that would not give him any problems...instead he had someone with a temper, that would later evolve into a shrewd scene stealer.

Of course she was not perfect.  I doubt if she would have been interested in this big eared goof, if he was a janitor.  As you mentioned, he was old for his years.  He never had the coolness of his baby boomer generation (think Mick Jagger, Elton, etc.).

[JudyObscure]

From the very first the press loved Diana, her habit of looking up through her eyelashes with her chin tucked in, gave her the "shy Di" label and started the public's idea that she was innocent, sweet young thing.  Her whitewashed image was starting to tarnish a little by the time of her death, in spite of the self-pitying story she leaked to Andrew Morton that hit all the papers just before the divorce. Charles's position made it impossible for him to defend himself, anything he said would have made him look caddish, but she was free to give television interviews where she whispered planned phrases that made it seem like the whole royal family had been mean to her.

The truth was summed up in a note one of her teachers sent home with her, "Diana is the most manipulative little girl I've ever known."  She and her grandmother, who was the Queen Mother's best friend, had planned for her to marry one of the Princes from her earliest days.  Because of the age difference, Diana had assumed Charles would be taken by the time she was grown, so she told all her friends that she had to stay  virgin to marry Prince Andrew. She got lucky, Charles was still free and dating her sister when Diana swooped in, pretended to love all the things he loved like riding and hunting (the things Camilla really loved) and got the ring before Charles knew what was happening. 

Before the marriage was a week old, Charles realized he'd made a terrible mistake and married a self-centered, mean girl who fired servants right and left, had temper tantrums, had failed to pass what we would call a high school equivalent, read only Candlelight romances, and refused all the helpful advice the royal family tried to give her.  The "Caring Princess," did only a fraction of the charity work that the other royals did, while Diana had plenty of time for affairs with the bad boys she liked.  The police once had to speak to her for making hundreds of crank calls to a married man's home.  Another lover complained that she "had bad breath and wanted to have sex constantly."

Watching her be turned into a saint after her accident was a fascinating thing, but I have no desire to see another glorified, dishonest TV movie about her life.

YMMV :)

[psychoticstate]

For all her faults and blindness as to her own issues, Diana was very adept at media manipulation and reading the public.  She certainly was not perfect and she used the press and her appearances to help herself and get her side of things out there but I do think she genuinely cared about people.  Yes, even while being astoundingly selfish herself.  She also learned from her sister's mistakes while dating Charles (Charles broke up with Sarah after Sarah told the press that she wouldn't marry the King of England or a trashman if she weren't in love; Charles went on to date others before connecting with Diana and Diana learned to be discreet and not say anything while they were dating.) 

I've read that the Royal Family assumed that after the wedding, the press and public fascination with Diana would calm down and things would go back to the way they were.  We all know how that went. None of them were prepared for the effect of Diana on the Royal Family, the Brits and the world in general.  She did bring a lot of positives - - she certainly helped to bring the Royal Family into current times, she brought a lot of awareness to then minor charities and to the AIDS crisis and she helped to spike up the British fashion industry. 

While I think that Diana was indeed manipulative I think she was manipulated into the relationship and marriage with Charles, as much as he was.  Lady Fermoy and the Queen Mother were actively campaigning for her and the Queen Mother had a lot of influence with Charles.  Prince Philip was also pushing Charles to marry and Diana seemed as suitable as anyone - - more so really.  And the pool of prospective brides was getting smaller and smaller. 

I don't believe that Diana had a problem with Charles being unfaithful in and of itself.  She herself was unfaithful.  It's been said that Prince Philip told Charles that if his marriage wasn't to his liking within five years, he could go back to Camilla on the side.  Probably true.  Supposedly having side action is part and parcel of the British upper crust.  Diana would have known that, having been a part of the upper crust.  I think her issue was that Charles preferred Camilla to her, not that he was cheating on her with Camilla.  If it had been a physical relationship only, I don't think it would have bothered Diana as much as knowing that it was a deeply connected, emotional one as well. 

[qtpye]

1 hour ago, psychoticstate said:

I don't believe that Diana had a problem with Charles being unfaithful in and of itself.  She herself was unfaithful.  It's been said that Prince Philip told Charles that if his marriage wasn't to his liking within five years, he could go back to Camilla on the side.  Probably true.  Supposedly having side action is part and parcel of the British upper crust.  Diana would have known that, having been a part of the upper crust.  I think her issue was that Charles preferred Camilla to her, not that he was cheating on her with Camilla.  If it had been a physical relationship only, I don't think it would have bothered Diana as much as knowing that it was a deeply connected, emotional one as well. 

Yes, she pretty much said as much.  It would be one thing if Charles was chasing young tarts all over the place, but it obvious that he was madly in love with Camilla.  Here was a man who could almost literally have any woman in the world and he chose her.

I think their an infamous quote where Camilla said to Diana, "All the men are in love with you" and she replied something like "Not, my husband".  Truthfully, neither party was innocent. 

Diana, was eighteen and not very sophisticated.  Her sisters were considered more impressive then her and she sort of was the unwanted third girl (I think), before the heir and boy finally arrived.  Charles and Diana just brought out the worst in each other and the world was their stage.

I was too young to see their wedding, but I do remember the hoopla surrounding them when I was a young child.  I really did think they had a fairy tale romance and she commanded the world's attention like no other person at the time.

[Arynm]

I hope the story we get is of the warts and all variety. I am tired of Diana being perfect and Charles being a cad who cheated and lied. They both were to blame for how the marriage turned out. She gave as good  as she got and I would like to see that. I still have the knee jerk reaction of hatred for Camilla, even though I know she doesn't really deserve it. It's too bad they couldn't marry, you can tell they have always loved each other.

[qtpye]

41 minutes ago, Arynm said:

I hope the story we get is of the warts and all variety. I am tired of Diana being perfect and Charles being a cad who cheated and lied. They both were to blame for how the marriage turned out. She gave as good  as she got and I would like to see that. I still have the knee jerk reaction of hatred for Camilla, even though I know she doesn't really deserve it. It's too bad they couldn't marry, you can tell they have always loved each other.

Yeah, Charles and Camilla are probably the true love story out of all of this, but I have always felt he was more into her, then the other way around.

[Arynm]

2 minutes ago, qtpye said:

Yeah, Charles and Camilla are probably the true love story out of all of this, but I have always felt he was more into her, then the other way around.

Shades of Wallis and David/Edward right there. Except of course that one day, Camilla will be Queen.

[TigerLynx]

The royal family and their handlers would have been better off if they hadn't tried to sell Diana and Charles as some great romantic love story.  I'm baffled why in the 1980s anyone thought it would be a good idea to have an arranged marriage between a thirty something guy and a teenager, present it as some true love fairy tale, and then be surprised when it all falls apart.

[psychoticstate]

Well, if you look at Fergie and Andy, they were both the same age with romantic pasts and that fell apart.

I think the issue is that whoever marries into the Royal Family needs to be aware of what kind of life they are marrying into and damn sure that's what they want.  Diana wasn't a commoner and she was well aware of how the Royal Family lived but apparently found quite a bit of it to be constricting.  Fergie was ill suited for royal life in every way other than being fairly good natured and more "common."   I recall reading in her book years ago that her engagements were scheduled a year in advance.  So no deciding to head off to lunch with friends or just chill out for the day. 

I think an upside to the failure of Charles' and Andrew's marriages was that the Queen was able to see that such beliefs simply did not work any longer.  I think that's why Edward and Sophie and William and Kate were "allowed" to live together before marriage. 

[merylinkid]

Charles and Diana would have been fine if both had approached with situation with a modicum of discretion and maturity.   However, Diana did not like having Camilla thrown in her face from day one.   And Diana was too young and insecure to handle it well when it was.

As for Camilla and Charles, he waited too long.   She got sick of waiting and married someone else.   That is entirely his fault that he didn't marry her the first time he had a chance.  

But the Royal Family learned from trying to mold Diana and Fergie into something they weren't.   Edward and Sophie lived together before marriage.   William and Catherine were together forever and even broke up for a bit.   After the marriage, being that he is second in line for the throne, William has time to be a husband and father, rather than a full tme Royal.   Which was part of the problem with Charles and Diana.   All of a sudden this 19 year old girl finds herself in line to be the next Queen.   At the time nobody knew that the Queen would still be around in 2017.   So there was tremendous pressure for her to step right into the role of Princess of Wales, Queen in Training.   Without much time for adjustment.   And, Charles being born to the position and Prince of Wales since he was 18, could not understand how she needed the time.   He is not the most empathetic person on the planet.   

[psychoticstate]

29 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

Which was part of the problem with Charles and Diana.   All of a sudden this 19 year old girl finds herself in line to be the next Queen.   At the time nobody knew that the Queen would still be around in 2017.   So there was tremendous pressure for her to step right into the role of Princess of Wales, Queen in Training.   Without much time for adjustment.   And, Charles being born to the position and Prince of Wales since he was 18, could not understand how she needed the time.   He is not the most empathetic person on the planet.   

Very true.  If memory serves, Charles and Diana began dating in the summer of 1980.  If you want to call it that since it was hardly conventional dating.  They were engaged by February of 1981 and married in July of 1981.  Not only did they really not know each other all that well, she really had no time to truly acclimate to being a member of the Royal Family, much less being the #3 female behind the Queen and the Queen Mother and being a future Queen herself.   

[Dejana]

1 hour ago, psychoticstate said:

Very true.  If memory serves, Charles and Diana began dating in the summer of 1980.  If you want to call it that since it was hardly conventional dating.  They were engaged by February of 1981 and married in July of 1981.  Not only did they really not know each other all that well, she really had no time to truly acclimate to being a member of the Royal Family, much less being the #3 female behind the Queen and the Queen Mother and being a future Queen herself.   

Diana, Her True Story (the Andrew Morton biography for which secretly she gave indirect interviews) says that she didn't call Charles by his name until they were engaged. When they were merely dating, she would address him as "Sir". IIRC, she wasn't instructed to, but she was never corrected, so she figured it the thing to do. Her sister Sarah was apparently just as formal with him when they dated. So stuffy!

Edited April 10, 2017 by Dejana

[TigerLynx]

By the time her honeymoon was over, Diana knew she wasn't going to have the kind of marriage she wanted.  So she had to learn how to fit in with the royal family, prepare to be queen, and pretend the illusion of her and Charles marrying for love was real.  Charles should have found someone who would have been fine with marriage as a business arrangement, and content to lead separate discreet lives.

[merylinkid]

I have heard rumors that Charles insisted all his girlfriends call him "Sir" even in bed.   He really is rather stuffy.   Or as noted above, someone who was 32 when married but acted much older.   

I really can't believe they are using this for Season 2 simply because one of the parties is still alive.   Public figure or not, Charles could sue if they cross a line.   Those boys don't need their parents' marriage splashed all over the tv again either.   Give them some peace.   They love both their parents.  

Edited April 11, 2017 by merylinkid

[qtpye]

10 hours ago, merylinkid said:

 

I really can't believe they are usi this for Season 2 simply because one of the parties is still alive.   Public figure or not, Charles could sue if they cross a line.   Those boys don't need their parents' marriage splashed all over the tv again either.   Give them some peace.   They love both their parents.  

I agree.   Particularly, if one can assess from all these intelligent comments on this board, we all know what happened.  Two people who were horrifically ill suited to each other got married and one was in love with another person.  They could not even have a friendly platonic marriage, because in reality these two people would never have been friends.  Neither of them had the wherewithal or the maturity to handle the situation with any dignity.  It was an ugly divorce that unfolded before our very eyes and I have no idea how Murphy is going to add to the story.

16 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

Well, if you look at Fergie and Andy, they were both the same age with romantic pasts and that fell apart.

Andrew loved Fergie and they were relatively happy.  I think he was even going to forgive her for the infamous "toe sucking" incident, but by that point her image was toast and they had to get rid of her .

Edited April 11, 2017 by qtpye

[tennisgurl]

I'm really not sure why Murphy decided to do this feud, when it just doesn't seem to be the kind of thing he would be interested in. Murphy has always been fascinated by Hollywood and campy and the oppression of women and minorities, so why go with this story? The Bette/Joan feud gives him all of that, complete with some old school Hollywood glamour and pizzazz to add some class to all the campiness. Plus, it helps that most of the people directly involved are dead or very old by now, so the wounds aren't exactly fresh. With Charles and Diana, most of the people involved are still in the public eye, to various degrees, and the death of Diana is still a relatedly recent thing. It seems rather tacky to bring up all that dirty laundry, especially when everyone already knows the story backwards and forwards at this point. I don't like thinking about the family seeing this, it just seems like its too soon and been done too often already. The most they could really add is showing that Diana was just as at fault for the divorce as Charles was, despite her being sainted after her death, which I feel like most people already know by now. It seems in poor taste to add the Murphy camp sheen and thinly veiled social commentary to a story like this.

I remember Diana's death really well, because it was the first celebrity death that really affected me. I was in the third grade when she died, and before her death, my friends and I were all obsessed with her. She was our real life Disney princess, and we were all heartbroken when she died. Our teacher even had to give a speech to us about death because all the girls in our class (including me)were all crying and miserable for several days. I didn't find out about all her struggles and manipulative side until later, and I wont lie, it was sad to hear, but now I can understand it all much better. She was a person, and so was Charles, and the whole thing was a huge mistake from the start. However, I'm still not really interested in watching a show about my first childhood hero either being a bitch or being a perfect princess, leading to her death.

If they wanted to do a feud/romance for season two, I think they should have stuck to old Hollywood. Maybe go even further back, and do the Lupe Velez/Gary Cooper relationship, which had TONS of drama and passion, and was probably just as much of a bad idea as Charles and Diana, just for different reasons. People don't know much about that relationship, and they could do a lot about gender and race and romance in the silent film era moving into the Hollywood Golden Age. It even has a tragic ending for the female part of the romance, except everyone involved has been dead for quite awhile, so its not like their close relatives would see their parents train wreck relationship or anything on screen. Maybe I'm just a sucker for silent movie history and the Hollywood Golden Age, but I think they could get way more out of something like that.

[Arynm]

I have read in a few different places that Charles does nothing himself. He doesn't even put toothpaste on his toothbrush. This is the stuff I like to see, the minutia behind what we are allowed to see. I also demand  to see the jewels and clothes and palaces! There has to be a vault full of massive amounts of tiaras and jewels that I can only dream of. All i can think of is that scene in The Princess Diaries where they go into the closet and there are drawers full of jewelry. Make that10x larger and it would be overwhelming. I would give my firstborn(maybe) to work there, cataloging and fangirling over the jewels.

Call me Queen Elizabeth! I am your girl for the job

I also think there is much drama to be mined from a Hedda Hooper/Louann Parsons season. These ladies were there from the silent films all the way to the McCarthy Era and beyond I believe. They were ruthless, and I am sure there is a wealth of info out there, including their own articles to pull from. Someone really should be working on this.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Arynm

[Blakeston]

18 hours ago, Arynm said:

Shades of Wallis and David/Edward right there. Except of course that one day, Camilla will be Queen.

Maybe. It's unclear whether Camilla's title will be queen or princess consort. It's up to Charles, when/if he's crowned. (I say "if" because of the possibility that his mother will outlive him.)

I think Charles could actually be appreciative of the second season - if he watches it, and I wouldn't be surprised if he does. While people who paid attention to the saga know the score, so many people are under the impression that Diana was a saint and he's an ogre. If the series depicts him as a mostly reasonable guy, that could be the best PR he's had in ages.

[qtpye]

I think I have seen a handful of mini series on Charles and Diana.  Everything from the supposed fairy tale romance, to the marriage dissolving, and her death with Dodi.

All of them have been awful.  It never feels like they cast the right people for the roles.  It often comes off like bad play acting and is rarely successful.  I saw one, where Diana came off like a mad lunatic, punching mirrors and having tantrums every five minutes.  Again, I do not know how RM is going to give life to this dead horse.

[TigerLynx]

RM should have left this poor dead horse alone.  There is so much gold to mine from old Hollywood.  From the scandals, to the coverups, to all the fake backstories the studios invented for their stars.

I don't think Diana or Charles were saints or ogres, but they were very different people.  One thing they did have in common was they both loved their children very much and were close to them.  

I believe the royal handlers and Charles' parents were foolish to pressure him into marrying when they knew the situation with Camilla.  Camilla's husband, Charles, and Camilla were all content with the weird situation they were in.  If the palace protocol office wanted Charles to marry, and have heirs, they should have found someone who would also accept it, and have their own life.  Instead they dumbly pushed Charles to marry a young girl who wanted a real marriage, and tried to sell it as a romantic love story when they knew that was a complete lie.

[ennui]

On 4/10/2017 at 9:57 AM, qtpye said:

I was too young to see their wedding, but I do remember the hoopla surrounding them when I was a young child.  I really did think they had a fairy tale romance and she commanded the world's attention like no other person at the time.

For years, Charles was The Most Eligible Bachelor in the World. There were all sorts of young women dreaming of Prince Charming. When he finally chose someone, she must have been Very Special. 

So, of course it was a fairy tale. It could be nothing less.

[qtpye]

18 minutes ago, ennui said:

For years, Charles was The Most Eligible Bachelor in the World. There were all sorts of young women dreaming of Prince Charming. When he finally chose someone, she must have been Very Special. 

So, of course it was a fairy tale. It could be nothing less.

I certainly believed it, but I was just a kid.  I thought he had just fallen madly in love with a pretty, but ordinary girl and now she lived a life made of rainbows and unicorns.  Charles was not conventionally good looking, but he was rather dashing in his military dress uniform.  It felt like he the prince from Cinderella.

[TigerLynx]

A lot of people believed the myth, and some were annoyed about the deception.

Something that rarely gets mentioned is that Diana and Charles had called a truce before she died, and were trying to get along as co-parents.  Any biography or true story or whatever the so called reporters want to call it, doesn't address that fact.  All the bad stuff just gets raked up again.

I saw an interview with William and Harry where they said they wished more attention was given to the charities Diana sponsored and the things she enjoyed in life because most coverage only ever talked about how miserable and unhappy Diana and Charles were when they were married.

[MonicaM]

So is it definite that the next series will be about Charles and Diana?  If so, I won't watch.  As this thread is proving, that story is still too recent, with few, if any, new details a series could reveal.     

[A Boston Gal]

On 4/10/2017 at 11:17 AM, JudyObscure said:

From the very first the press loved Diana, her habit of looking up through her eyelashes with her chin tucked in, gave her the "shy Di" label and started the public's idea that she was innocent, sweet young thing.  Her whitewashed image was starting to tarnish a little by the time of her death, in spite of the self-pitying story she leaked to Andrew Morton that hit all the papers just before the divorce. Charles's position made it impossible for him to defend himself, anything he said would have made him look caddish, but she was free to give television interviews where she whispered planned phrases that made it seem like the whole royal family had been mean to her.

The truth was summed up in a note one of her teachers sent home with her, "Diana is the most manipulative little girl I've ever known."  She and her grandmother, who was the Queen Mother's best friend, had planned for her to marry one of the Princes from her earliest days.  Because of the age difference, Diana had assumed Charles would be taken by the time she was grown, so she told all her friends that she had to stay  virgin to marry Prince Andrew. She got lucky, Charles was still free and dating her sister when Diana swooped in, pretended to love all the things he loved like riding and hunting (the things Camilla really loved) and got the ring before Charles knew what was happening. 

Before the marriage was a week old, Charles realized he'd made a terrible mistake and married a self-centered, mean girl who fired servants right and left, had temper tantrums, had failed to pass what we would call a high school equivalent, read only Candlelight romances, and refused all the helpful advice the royal family tried to give her.  The "Caring Princess," did only a fraction of the charity work that the other royals did, while Diana had plenty of time for affairs with the bad boys she liked.  The police once had to speak to her for making hundreds of crank calls to a married man's home.  Another lover complained that she "had bad breath and wanted to have sex constantly."

Watching her be turned into a saint after her accident was a fascinating thing, but I have no desire to see another glorified, dishonest TV movie about her life.

YMMV :)

OMG, I seriously didn't know any of this! I guess I bought into the accepted view that she was a young girl in an impossible situation.

Yikes, I feel like a I had a huge prank pulled on me. :(

[enoughcats]

20 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

a young girl who wanted a real marriage,

Not that she had ever seen a real long term, successful working marriage in real life.

Her Mother left her Father after the birth of the heir and there was a messy custody fight (Diana and her brother, the heir, lived with her for a while until they moved back to the family pile. 

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jun/04/local/me-kydd4

 Her Father remarried not in his social class, either, but the daughter of Barbara Cartland, the megamillion selling romance novelist who always wore pink. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/1366803/Dame-Barbara-Cartland.html

[qtpye]

I guess the Prince is not a fan of too many photo ops with anyone...

 

Prince Charles Really Wansn't Happy With Will And Kate When They First Got Married

Quote

 

From Esquire UK

People criticise the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge all the time, but a new book alleges the royal couple not only faces judgement from the media, but from their own father[-in-law] as well.

In Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, author Sally Bedell Smith claims the then-newlyweds "irked" the heir on their 2011 North American tour. Prince Charles dismissed the trip to Canada and California as having too many photo ops, Vogue reports.

According to CafeMom, the royal "wasn't pleased with the camera-friendly couple" and considered the pictures "tasteless." Those are some harsh words supposedly coming from ol' dad.

 

[TigerLynx]

57 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

Not that she had ever seen a real long term, successful working marriage in real life.

Her Mother left her Father after the birth of the heir and there was a messy custody fight (Diana and her brother, the heir, lived with her for a while until they moved back to the family pile. 

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jun/04/local/me-kydd4

 Her Father remarried not in his social class, either, but the daughter of Barbara Cartland, the megamillion selling romance novelist who always wore pink. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/1366803/Dame-Barbara-Cartland.html

One of the things Diana and Charles said they wanted was to be closer to their children than they were to their own parents, and to have a real family.  How was that supposed to be possible when their marriage was a sham from the get go?

7 minutes ago, qtpye said:

I guess the Prince is not a fan of too many photo ops with anyone...

 

Prince Charles Really Wansn't Happy With Will And Kate When They First Got Married

I guess they can't win.  If they hadn't posed for photo ops, they probably would have gotten criticized for being to inaccessible.

[qtpye]

13 minutes ago, TigerLynx said:

I guess they can't win.  If they hadn't posed for photo ops, they probably would have gotten criticized for being to inaccessible

I wonder if the prince was not a little jealous of the naturally glamourous young couple?  Charles seemed very regal when he was married to Diana, but not so much with Camilla, even though she is his one and only love. 

[ennui]

2 hours ago, qtpye said:

a new book alleges

Anything to sell books. 

[DisneyBoy]

I wonder if the Brangelina/Jennifer Aniston triangle will be fodder for a good season of this show. Obviously it's way too soon for that to ever happen, but I feel like it's the only modern day version of the tragic romance that really captured the world's attention since Di/Charles/Camilla. And I'm not really sure that Jennifer Aniston is especially interesting so maybe the story wouldn't really be anything more than all Angelina all the time.

[psychoticstate]

2 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

One of the things Diana and Charles said they wanted was to be closer to their children than they were to their own parents, and to have a real family.  How was that supposed to be possible when their marriage was a sham from the get go?

I don't think either Charles or Diana believed the marriage was a sham from the start.  Diana was a young girl with stars in her eyes, who had been brought up to believe her only purpose was to marry well.   Charles knew he had to marry and he thought she was a young, impressionable girl that idolized him.  From each perspective, the other did well in their choice. 

Charles was expected to produce an heir and at least one spare; Diana loved children and said she wanted many.  So again, they appeared to be on the same page.  I also think they did both want to have children to cuddle and love on because both were traumatized themselves as children, feeling unloved and unwanted.  

If both had not been so stubborn and if both had taken the time to really get to know the other, they did have common factors in their childhoods that could have helped to bridge a friendship and an understanding. 

19 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

A lot of people believed the myth, and some were annoyed about the deception.

Something that rarely gets mentioned is that Diana and Charles had called a truce before she died, and were trying to get along as co-parents.  Any biography or true story or whatever the so called reporters want to call it, doesn't address that fact.  All the bad stuff just gets raked up again.

I saw an interview with William and Harry where they said they wished more attention was given to the charities Diana sponsored and the things she enjoyed in life because most coverage only ever talked about how miserable and unhappy Diana and Charles were when they were married.

Very true.  In fact, I recall hearing that Diana had sent Charles a note just before she left for Paris and signed off with "Lots of love," something you certainly wouldn't do if you were actively feuding with someone.  I believe it was her butler Paul Burrell who said that Diana mentioned that Camilla deserved some type of medal for standing by Charles for all those years.  So it appears that her anger toward Charles and Camilla was or had softened.  She also admitted toward the end of her life that Charles was an involved father and was a good father to the boys. 

For a handful of years, I bought into the "Charles is the bad guy" shtick.  I don't think he's the easiest person to deal with, I think he's stubborn, spoiled and enabled, and I think he was out of touch for a long time.  However . . . he was reportedly very shaken up about Diana's death. He was allegedly the one that insisted on going to Paris to retrieve her body and asked that the hospital staff locate the earrings she had been wearing as she supposedly never went out without wearing a pair and he knew she would want them in, on her last "journey."  It was also reported that he wore a dark blue suit to her funeral, rather than the usual black, because Diana always preferred him in blue.  Some have said that  it was Charles who convinced the Queen to lower the flag at the Palace to half mast.   If even one of these things are true, it does show that he can be kind and considerate.  I'd like to believe they are true. 

[JudyObscure]

After listing most of the bad stuff I've read about her over the years, I want to add something nice.   I saw Charles and Diana up close, in 1985, at Arlington Cemetery while they were placing a wreath on British Field Marshall General John Dill's grave. Hubs and I could have reached out and touched them.  While they prayed, I gawked, and I have to say, she was stunning.  She was so glowing it was like she had a light bulb inside her and Charles, with all his fancy medals was pretty impressive, too.   When she got safely back in the limo she gave me a little wave and smile and I saw the charm that made so many people love her.

[Wings]

This is not listed in my programs (DIRECTV).  Are you watching this on Netfix or somewhere else?  I really want to watch both seasons, but I cannot find them!  I am typing in Feud Charles and Diana.  Maybe that is not the real name? 

[formerlyfreedom]

14 minutes ago, wings707 said:

This is not listed in my programs (DIRECTV).  Are you watching this on Netfix or somewhere else?  I really want to watch both seasons, but I cannot find them!  I am typing in Feud Charles and Diana.  Maybe that is not the real name? 

It's not airing yet, @wings707 - it's been announced that this will be the second season topic, so this is the spot to sort of 'anticipate' it. It probably won't be out until 2018.

[JudyObscure]

Wings,  I think this thread is all speculation about what they might be planning for the next season of "Feud," and why we don't or do want it to be Charles and Di.  

ETA: Oh thanks, Saoirse.  Already decided, huh? Darn.

Edited April 12, 2017 by JudyObscure

[Wings]

52 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Wings,  I think this thread is all speculation about what they might be planning for the next season of "Feud," and why we don't or do want it to be Charles and Di.  

ETA: Oh thanks, Saoirse.  Already decided, huh? Darn.

Ah ha.  Thank you!  I would love to see a season on C and D.  I paid no attention to that ridiculous royal family before or since C and D.  She drew me in and I was fascinated, especially when they split and how much Harry looks like the horse trainer (?).  But he also looks like her brother, so there is that.  LOL!   I would watch that, for sure.  I stopped watching Bette and Joan (2 episodes in);  I just don't care about them.   

[Epeolatrix]

Quote

How about that Feud, and don't cast Charles OR Diana.  Just make it about their feuding personal staffs and friends.  There's plenty there, without ever having either of them on stage. 

I love this idea. One of my favorite shows is a discontinued British series called "The Palace". After the unexpectedly early death of the King, the eldest son (a young party-boy) becomes the new king. His older sister, much better suited to the job and more responsible, makes it her goal to get rid of him. This isn't entirely practical, as there is another (useless) male heir in the way, but that doesn't matter. The series is in large part about the long-simmering feud between brother and sister, and what their staff members do on behalf of those they serve. There's definitely a lot of story in focusing on the secondary characters in such a life.

[TigerLynx]

3 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

I don't think either Charles or Diana believed the marriage was a sham from the start.  Diana was a young girl with stars in her eyes, who had been brought up to believe her only purpose was to marry well.   Charles knew he had to marry and he thought she was a young, impressionable girl that idolized him.  From each perspective, the other did well in their choice. 

Charles was expected to produce an heir and at least one spare; Diana loved children and said she wanted many.  So again, they appeared to be on the same page.  I also think they did both want to have children to cuddle and love on because both were traumatized themselves as children, feeling unloved and unwanted.  

If both had not been so stubborn and if both had taken the time to really get to know the other, they did have common factors in their childhoods that could have helped to bridge a friendship and an understanding. 

When Diana and Charles were on their honeymoon, Charles talked to Camilla on the phone everyday.  When Charles first started dating Diana, his parents, other relatives, and the royal handlers all started badgering Charles to marry Diana, and not screw up this time.  It went something along the lines of, "You've dithered about, you are in your thirties, you have dated women in the past who would have been acceptable, but didn't close the deal, it's time for you to produce an heir, so marry Diana, now now now."  Saying there was three in this marriage from the beginning so it was a bit crowded was an understatement.

[psychoticstate]

20 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

When Diana and Charles were on their honeymoon, Charles talked to Camilla on the phone everyday.  When Charles first started dating Diana, his parents, other relatives, and the royal handlers all started badgering Charles to marry Diana, and not screw up this time.  It went something along the lines of, "You've dithered about, you are in your thirties, you have dated women in the past who would have been acceptable, but didn't close the deal, it's time for you to produce an heir, so marry Diana, now now now."  Saying there was three in this marriage from the beginning so it was a bit crowded was an understatement.

True.  But there was never going to be just the two of them - - if nothing else, both "belonged" to Britain.  There would always be the crown, the Queen, Prince Philip, etc. 

Neither was innocent but I don't think Charles or Diana entered the marriage believing it was a sham.  I think Charles thought Diana would be sweet and complacent and go along with the SOP (i.e., she looks the other way while he does whatever and whomever he wants.) 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Brangelina/Jennifer Aniston triangle

Too soon. They might instead go with the original, Debbie Reynolds/Eddie Fisher/Liz Taylor. With a little Richard Burton on the side.

The biggest problem I see with them doing the Diana and Charles story is finding the right actors. Everyone will be comparing the Diana portrayer in particular to the real version because there are still so many images and video of Diana readily available.

[enoughcats]

Truly strange casting of Diana would be one of her several Lady nieces, the daughters of her brother, by his assorted wives.  Could get different ages out of one household. 

[voiceover]

On 4/12/2017 at 7:35 AM, A Boston Gal said:

OMG, I seriously didn't know any of this! I guess I bought into the accepted view that she was a young girl in an impossible situation.

Why can't she be both?  People are complicated.  As the saying goes: "There are three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth."

[TigerLynx]

15 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

True.  But there was never going to be just the two of them - - if nothing else, both "belonged" to Britain.  There would always be the crown, the Queen, Prince Philip, etc. 

Neither was innocent but I don't think Charles or Diana entered the marriage believing it was a sham.  I think Charles thought Diana would be sweet and complacent and go along with the SOP (i.e., she looks the other way while he does whatever and whomever he wants.) 

Charles knew Diana would not look the other way.  Diana threatened to call off the wedding if he didn't end things with Camilla.  The Palace was telling both Diana and Charles they had to go through with getting married.  Prince Phillip told Charles to break things off with Camilla, give his marriage to Diana a chance, and if it didn't work out, Charles could discretely renew his relationship with Camilla while staying married to Diana.  Apparently, all of these idiots who are still living in the dark ages thought Diana would have no choice but to put up with it.  They were wrong.

[AgentRXS]

Quote

The biggest problem I see with them doing the Diana and Charles story is finding the right actors.

I can already see them shoehorning Jessica Lange in as Camilla.  And you already know one of his blonde muses (Lady Gaga, Emma Roberts or hell, even Billie Lourd) would be cast as Diana if they were capable of passing off a halfway decent accent.

I think its a terrible idea to focus on Charles and Di, especially with Netflix's "The Crown" getting such acclaim. Even though "The Crown" hasn't gotten to that era in royal history yet.....there is no way that RM is going to meet their budget as far as sets, wardrobe, etc and "Feud" is going to end up looking like a cheap comparison.

If he's looking to tell a story about a toxic doomed-from-the-start relationship, their are plenty of others to choose from that haven't been done to death already.