tiaraprin said:
Charles is the Prince of Wales. If Diana was so keen on an "arranged marriage" as everyone is suggesting, then how hard could it be to be Mistress Number Two??
tiaraprin, I really don't believe that either Charles or Diana were keen on an arranged marriage - at least a formally arranged marriage where everybody knows its just for show and children. But a couple can go into marriage with different expectations and this is the main reason marriages fail.
For Charles, I believe, practical considerations did come into play, such as producing a heir and marrying someone that would be approved. But all heirs to the throne have to think of those things. Charles at that stage of his life did not want to take risks and wanted to comply with what was expected of him. But he also wanted to marry an English girl because of his strong physical attraction to the English look and he had a wounded sensitivity that was similar to Diana's so he and Diana did have this in common even if they didn't have much else.
Diana, because she was so young, is harder to read. As a young girl, Diana idolized Prince Charles from afar and had pictures of him in her room. She did not know him well even when they married. She did have an unhappy childhood and it is not unusual for a young girl to rush into marriage from an unhappy childhood with the hope that then things will be all better. They don't necessarily love the flesh and blood human being that they're marrying, they're looking for someone to make everything alright. And the royal family at that time had an image of all that is upright and respectable in the British character. A marriage like this hardly ever works but it doesn't keep people from trying.
In fact Charles did have a history of unequal relations even if not with women. He and Andrew got along quite well as long as Andrew idolized his older brother. When Andrew grew up and became his own person, the brothers were estranged. For someone like Charles, being idolized by a young pretty girl can be a great boost to one's self-esteem in the same way that the public acclaim and adulation became a boost to Diana's self-esteem. And one feels very affectionate and caring to others who boost one's self-esteem. It never works in the end however because then the other person eventually finds out that you're human with flaws.
But to your question about Lady Tryon, I'm sorry I don't see her taking a number two mistress position with Charles because I think Charles did have some sincere but misguided affection for Diana at first and even if Lady Tryon didn't have to compete with Diana, she would have had to compete with Camilla. Plus I cannot see Charles with his lack of decision making and fear of risk taking going into a highly public marriage with two mistresses in his pocket. That is highly risky no matter how mousy you think the future wife is. I can't even see him taking one mistress in the marriage.
At this stage in his life, Charles did not take decisive action, he fell into things that others decided for him. And I don't think Camilla had that much control of him at this stage of his life to change this aspect of his character. My belief is that only the pain of a failed marriage was enough to force Charles consider taking risks to be with Camilla. At that point the risk could be seen as less than the real pain of a failed marriage.
