Did Prince Charles Ever Regret Not Telling Diana About Camilla Before Their Engagement?

Prince Charles and Princess Diana had a very controversial married life, and this is mainly due to the prince’s cheating scandal with Camilla Parker Bowles. People called their 1981 wedding a “fairytale,” but the description turned out to be far from the truth as it was later revealed that Queen Elizabeth’s eldest son is in love with another woman while married to the Princess of Wales.

The truth came out when Princess Diana handed her confessional tapes to British journalist Andrew Morton. She disclosed that Camilla Parker Bowles was the third party in her marriage and admitted that she had thoughts of committing suicide and started to suffer from bulimia.

But even with these revelations coming straight from the princess, Prince Charles did not seem to care and went on with his affair with Camilla. Princess Diana’s close friends Anne Allan and Dr. James Colthurst attested that the People’s Princess was totally devastated after learning about her husband’s infidelity.

“You could see her fading physically,” Express quoted Dr. Colthurst as saying in a Princess Di documentary. “It was clear to all those who knew her that the bulimia was a reaction to the circumstances she found herself in.”

For Allan, Princess’ Di’s ballet teacher and confidante, she knows how much Diana loves her husband, so it was horrible to know that he did not love her back as she did. She added that the princess's self-esteem plunged as well, and that was how tough it was for her.

“She loved Charles, yes, but Charles loved another woman,” Allan said. “It’s very hard for anyone when you love someone and you realize that perhaps they don’t love you. I think it made her very sad, devastated. She felt that she wasn’t enough.”

Prince Charles and Camilla’s love story goes way back to the seventies. They met in 1970 and dated until 1971. Their romance ended because the prince had to serve in the Royal Navy. When he returned, his ex-girlfriend was already married to Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973.

Prior to marrying Princess Diana in 1981, it was believed that Charles and Camilla were having an affair, and this went on for years. She confronted her husband’s mistress. But even then, their marriage crumbled. The prince eventually admitted adultery in a nationally televised interview, and they were officially divorced in 1996.

When the Princess of Wales died in 1997, people were pointing fingers at Prince Charles as they believed that the accident would not have happened if he remained faithful to his wife. The prince also had a fallout with Queen Elizabeth due to his infidelity.

Royal observers said that these troubles could have been prevented if Prince Charles had been honest with his wife and told her about his past relationship with Camilla before they were engaged. He chose to conceal his past with his lover and kept Princess Diana in the dark, and this led to a catastrophic marriage. But did Prince Charles egret not telling his wife about his true relationship with Camilla before their engagement?

Royal expert Penny Junor opined that the prince did not regret it even if things ended badly. This is because Prince Charles “wouldn’t have had the sensitivity.”

“He is very interested in objective things but not subjective so he couldn’t have understood the complexities of her (Princess Diana) feelings,” he said. “He had not handled things well. It didn’t occur to him that she needed to know before someone else told her.”