If Charles had done the honorable thing and abdicated the throne,

[pnwmom]

so Camilla could leave her husband and run away with him,

who would have ascended to the throne?

The loathsome Prince Andrew. (Unless the rules were changed to give Princess Anne a chance.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Andrew%2C_Duke_of_York

Maybe Charles knew something the rest of us did not.

[calimary]

1. I suspect Charles knows a lot more about EVERYTHING than any of the rest of us.

He’s been around, in the front row, for decades. And he isn’t exactly known for being a world-renowned blabbermouth.

Somehow I’ve always felt that he was worthy of admiration AND trust. He’s never run off half-cocked. Or ill-advised. He’s never been reckless, at least as I’ve observed. Always very deliberate, with a very steady hand on the steering wheel. Always seemed to be one of those who looks before he leaps, and at times, knows when it’s not smart even to leap.

[PJMcK]

3. Yeah, but he was an adulterer

Kindly square that circle.

[former9thward]

5. Quite a few post WW II U.S. presidents have been also.

Not sure what that means.

[Bev54]

6. Yeah it is a little different when you are also going to be the head of

the Church of England. I suspect his father may have had a few dalliances in his time but his wife was head of the Church not him.

[former9thward]

8. Good point.

I know next to nothing about the Church of England so I don't know how they think about that stuff.

[Bev54]

17. If you know of Anglican religion, it is church of England.

[CatWoman]

10. Netflix's "The Crown" alleged that he had an affair with a ballerina

and QE2 threw the book at him

[Bev54]

18. Ah, quite possibly, I did not watch the series but I know there have been whispers

[Dorian Gray]

23. The CoE was started by a serial adulterer lol

it's all stupid

[calimary]

9. From everything I've read,

and I’m kind of a royal watcher and fan and geek, it’s been observed and reported that Diana strayed first. Full disclosure, I always felt that the coverage was so damn tilted in her favor, and I never really was a fan of hers. I thought she was a pretty young blonde who got WAAAY lucky, as I saw all the pretty blondes get asked to dance by the guys we all swooned over - not one of whom ever gave me a second look. And I always felt bad for Charles because nobody cared about him when Diana came along. He was COMPLETELY overshadowed. I got tired of the Diana obsession everybody always had. I think I resented it a little, and I felt sorry for him. “ENOUGH about her, okay? I wanna hear more about HIM. He was here first!”

My mom told me a joke when I was a little kid: “two women get into an elevator and noticed a little girl in there, who was standing by herself. The one woman whispered to the other: ‘she’s not very p-r-e-t-t-y.’ And the little girl piped up with ‘yes, but I AM very s-m-a-r-t!’”

I remember that so vividly to this day. I couldn’t have been older than 7 or 8 years old. And I also remember thinking to myself “why did you want to tell me THAT joke? Are you saying I’m not pretty?” Cuz I was a straight A student even back that far. And I remember thinking about that joke a lot, and wondering if it meant that pretty was essentially better and more important and more desirable than smart was. I had the s-m-a-r-t part sewn up. Unfortunately, the p-r-e-t-t-y part kinda eluded me.

Later on, when I had kids, I was always way sensitive about how you talk to kids and what kinds of impressions what you say can leave on them. I knew they could process all kinds of stuff that grownups would never have suspected.

[Beakybird]

14. When I was a teenager, my Jewish mom would kvell about how handsome I was.

Then in the next sentence, she'd say, "If you ever want plastic surgery, your father and I will pay for it.

[Dorian Gray]

22. The first in all of history!!!!!

[wryter2000]

4. I can't bring myself to hate him

The way so many do. If the rules about who he could marry hadn’t been so stupid, he might have married a divorced Camilla and avoided the tragedy of his mistaken first marriage and Diana’s death.

[calimary]

11. Totally.

He was finally able to marry the woman he loved. And he’s loved her for a LONG time. For whatever reason! And who are we to judge in the first place? She VERY clearly makes him happy. It’s really obvious! I’ve been watching him for a long time and he’s been smiling A LOT more in the past few years than he ever did with Diana. I was always watching for it.

I think I felt kinda sorry for him. He couldn’t just marry the woman he loved. He had to marry for purpose. For obligation to his subjects who wanted him married, settled down, and starting a family of his own. To produce an heir. He was all-obligation-all-the-time. Camilla had something that connected with him, deeply. She made him feel happy and loved and comfortable and understood, seems to me. They spoke each other’s language from the start. Seems to me they share an enduring love and friendship and bond with each other that’s lasted them both a lifetime.

So it works for me! Besides, it’s not for me to judge, anyway.

[raccoon]

20. Me too. He should've been able to marry Camilla in the first place.

And I always felt for him, because Diana was young and beautiful and he was neither.

Which is why, in this television age, the focus was always on her and he was pretty much ignored.

If he were to abdicate, it might be the End of the British monarchy. I think the duke of Windsor abdicating shook things up pretty bad.

[pnwmom]

12. He married a 19 year old virgin, when he was 30 and in love with someone else.

That was ill-advised and selfish.

[Phoenix61]

19. Selfish would have been marrying who he loved.

He did what he was supposed to do, got married and produced an heir. Archaic? Probably but it’s their country and their rules.

[wryter2000]

2. I don't think he could abdicate until he was king

By then, he was married to Camilla. I guess there was some way to give up being heir. I have no idea how that would work.

[Sogo]

7. She got a divorce from her husband and ended up marrying Charles,

so I don't get your point.

Or do you mean before he married Diana?

[pnwmom]

13. Yes, I mean INSTEAD of choosing Diana, who obviously had a crush on him, for a show marriage. nt

[GenThePerservering]

15. How many years ago was this

again?

[MiniMe]

16. 1980's

1981 to be specific.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

21. Camilla played the long game. Here she is, decades later...Queen

[brettdale]

24. William is next in line

Then William's kids.

[Kid Berwyn]

25. Friends of Andrew