Long after the glamour of their fairytale wedding faded, Prince Charles and Princess Diana's tumultuous relationship became the subject of worldwide gossip. Although the public strongly took Diana's side, for the couple, there was truly no winner in the War of the Waleses. In his new book, The Windsor Legacy, author Robert Jobson suggests that while The King regrets his mistakes with his first wife, the way history was written "frustrates" him greatly.
Charles famously carried on an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles for years, but Jobson points out that Diana was equally as guilty of stepping outside their marriage.
"His detractors focus on his neglect of his young bride and his adultery, branding him unfit for kingship, while overlooking her many affairs," Jobson wrote in the royal biography, released January 6.
King Charles has never disputed that his marriage was deeply flawed from the start. However, Jobson suggests that the monarch's lingering annoyance lies in how Princess Diana's emotional account of events—both in Andrew Morton's biography and her sensational BBC Panorama interview—was given at a time when public sympathy was overwhelmingly on her side due to Charles's affair.
"What frustrates The King even now is that Diana's version of what happened is still believed, despite being, in his view, 'a tissue of lies' fed to a sympathetic but gullible press," Jobson writes. "It is wrong in his opinion that they have become 'historical fact.'"
Rather than attempt to rewrite history, King Charles has carried the consequences of the past with him. "Over time Charles has learned to live with this distorted image, especially after Diana's death, realising that no amount of effort can erase the stains on his reputation," Jobson writes.
"He feels he let down not only the monarchy but also himself and Diana by not calling off the wedding, when he knew it was wrong," the author adds.
