The Crown

I think Charles loved her with the kind of love that comes from respect. He respected her. He never tried to sleep or dishonor her before marriage and he was the kind of man who might be considered indecisive, but he was in fact careful. He loved her for her help she did give and a lot of people failed to give Charles the type of responsibility that would remove him from Camilla and in my view HME was the same failure as Queen Victoria, both refused to give their heirs any kind of serious responsibilities that would keep them out of trouble and provide a healthy outlet for growth and maturity. I think that had Diana and Charles been less pressured to perform and had been less held back by certain types of protocol, I am certain that their marriage would have been healthier. 

I think Charles was rendered nonfunctional and I did read that the cameras never recorded how Charles fell apart in the Abbey at the funeral shortly before leaving for Diana's formal burial. The real mess comes from the fact that Charles did not fight for his wife's mental well-being and he should have been more flexible in being less of an asshole about his (immature) distaste for fashionable city life. If he had just been willing to focus on his wife's interests and spend some time or even months at KP indulging his wife's wishes to be a city hostess, I am sure much more would have been better. Charles and Diana were on better terms and I think Diana saw more clearly how much Charles was dedicating himself to, she saw the value of the work, and Charles likely saw how much more she throve in the city and I deep down think there might have been a solid, even romantic reconciliation. If HME was giving Diana official assignments plus access to perks, it's not like Diana was deep frozen. Diana also had her office and huge budget and KP as a residence. 

I really think that while we've said that Diana should have been booted out after a while, I think that if Diana had survived, Charles would have stepped up and involved in a way that would have likely led to him understanding more about really taking care of his wife and looking after a sincerely vulnerable spouse would have entailed. Second, near the end of her life, Diana was no real active threat and if Diana had continue to make a kind of mess of her life, Charles would have had to step in if only for the sake of his sons. He really did love her, but she was a kind of mess and he was too thick to see all of it from a more mature perspective. If Lady C. is right, Diana was sorting out her bulimia and she was looking healthier and I think Charles and Diana could have reconnected. 

What the Crown does show are the different ways that Camilla and Diana were viewed. I also do not think it shows that Charles didn't want for Camilla to be accepted, he had to wait until the Queen Mother died and so did Princess Margaret. Second, Camilla had to wait because she had to earn Charles' respect and Charles never fought for Camilla to be Princess of Wales and named as such and second, Charles did get Camilla crowned, but Camilla was still stuck fighting for it. If Charles had loved Camilla, the way he loved Diana (love mixed with respect) then I am certain that had Diana not died or had not been in Paris, Diana and Charles would have continued to bond over their sons and their activities would have crossed at some point in time. IT wasn't just time that would have healed, but a more mature development on both their parts.

Diana's death led to a void in Charles that no one believes is there because they refuse to see that he had. Imagine maybe thinking that he could reconcile with his ex-wife after his wife has gotten her issues out of her system and I really think there was a chance. After she died, Diana was gone for good and he would not be able to go back to her or reach out and really ask her to come back to him, come home to her real home and her real way of life and her real rightful place at his side. Diana would have come running back and I am certain that with a more settled personality with mature development, she would have been welcomed back as "HRH" Princess of Wales and even if they had to wait until after the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret passed, that would have been just fine by both of them and I am certain that it would have kept her sons in line. Self-destruction is not inevitable. imagine that kind of love story. Not just an ingenue, but a ingenue divorcee and a prince who lost his princess and go figure, both reconciled after HMQM died and Princess Margaret ended up leaving. 

Remember, Charles ran to Paris and made sure Diana had a suitable return. He fought for her to have a regal burial and not just be shoveled into the Spencer family vault. He went there himself and he worked to support his sons. He did all he could. If there was no love there, he would have shoveled his wife into the ground and received her coffin via FedEx in England and sobbed on Camilla's shoulder while the coffin was driven via hearse to the Spencer family estate. It's not like he didn't care, it's just that neither of him and Diana were given time and space to develop as a couple. 

As for HME, that was a great moment and really well done. HME was mistaken as Queen to think that length of service would mean that one formula would always work. The real problem with long term service is that sometimes the staff begins to think they are as the same as the master they are serving. HME was surrounded by elderly people who do not see that there is nothing wrong with someone new on the scene and Diana blew away a lot of cobwebs and was a threat to those who would not separate their profession from their personal life of service. Diaan did expect her staff to know their place and kind of like Meg, Diana was mistakenly viewed as some interloper, not a natural addition to Charles' life. It wasn't just that Diana was unwelcome to the Highgrove set, but that she was unwelcome to people who refused to adjust and adapt, just like Prince Philip was put through. It was natural that HME would marry, but her consort was treated like some invasive presence and he wasn't. I think in some way HME prompted HME to become a more proactive and decisive monarch, but HME failed the test of time.