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King Charles, Queen Camilla?
16/08/2002 10:22 - (SA)
Paul Majendie
London - Let Prince Charles be king and marry his longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles - that was the message from a narrow majority of Britons on Thursday in a new opinion poll on the monarchy.
Royal watchers agreed - the heir-to-the-throne should now be allowed to find happiness in middle age after the end of his tempestuous marriage to Princess Diana and her death in a Paris car crash five years ago.
Charles (53) and Camilla (55) have carefully backed into the limelight and a string of polls since the Queen Mother died in March at the age of 101 have shown that their "softly softly" tactic may now be paying dividends.
The latest poll in Thursday's Evening Standard newspaper showed 51% in favour of Charles becoming king and marrying Camilla. Sixty percent would approve if the Archbishop of Canterbury let them have a Church of England wedding. Both are divorcees.
Some 71% said it would have been better in the long run if Charles had married Camilla in the first place.
The woman Diana once nicknamed "The Rottweiler" now regularly meets Charles's sons, William and Harry, and she was invited to the Queen Mother's funeral and Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee celebrations in a sign of growing acceptance by the royal family.
Delicate path
Ingrid Seward, royal author and editor of Majesty magazine, told the Evening Standard: "Most people generally think everyone has a right to happiness. Camilla makes Charles very happy and that is why there is an upsurge in support for him."
On the question of remarriage, constitutional expert Lord St. John of Fawsley said: "It looks as if the public is coming round. It won't ever be unanimous but it will be a majority."
Charles has trod a delicate public relations path over his affair with Parker Bowles since his marriage to Diana ended in 1996 with admissions of adultery on both sides.
Diana once famously said of Parker Bowles: "There were three of us in this marriage so it was a bit crowded."
She blamed her and a prying media for her marriage breakup, which began with a fairytale wedding and careered from crisis to crisis. Charles was cast as the villain in the bitter battle they fought.
Now, as the fifth anniversary of Diana's death approaches, the signals from Britain are decidedly mixed.
Only 52% polled by the Evening Standard felt the outpouring of public grief after her death was heartfelt. Some 46% said it was hysterical.
And 75% opposed the idea of a special Diana day each year to commemorate "the People's Princess".
But 40% did acknowledge that Diana's greatest influence was in humanising the royal family, accused of being aloof and uncaring after her death.
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