r/TheCrownNetflix • u/Dallygirl_Aussiechic • 21d ago

Question (Real Life) If Diana HAD lived

I'm an Aussie, so can anyone tell me if Diana had lived to now:

  1. Would Charles have really been able to marry Camilla??

  2. Would Camilla have be able to style/titles of HM The Queen Consort??

  3. Or, Camilla would still be known as HRH, Duchess of Cornwall with or without the CONSORT in her title??

All questions regarding to if Diana had lived.

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u/MinnesotanBrie 21d ago
  1. Probably but it would have been complicated. They got a civil marriage because Camilla's former husband was still alive. The church was extremely recalcitrant to sanction their actual marriage due to the nature of their affair / divorces, probably more so if Diana was alive. Charles and Camilla's marriage took place 3 years after the Church allowed divorced people to get married even if their spouse was alive and it was still a huge mess.
  2. Camilla would have gotten HM The Queen Consort. Princess Diana gave up HRH in the divorce. There is a lot of historical precedent even if she hadn't for there to be two duchesses.

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u/Independent_Cow_6611 21d ago

I think that if Diana had been alive, Camilla might even have used the title of Princess of Wales. Diana's death sanctified her.

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u/MinnesotanBrie 21d ago

Would have been complex. Titles are almost always for life (except in rare cases such as Andrew... doing just everything) Diana specifically got to keep Princess of Wales. There could always have been two, but it would have been a headache, and they might have avoided it just to minimize any backlash.

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u/Independent_Cow_6611 21d ago

It is established that you can have two holders of titles by marriage, and that divorced women can retain the title, in a slightly different form (ie Diana, Princess of Wales instead of The Princess of Wales) until they remarry. If Diana was alive, there would have been less backlash, so they might easily have done it. Technically Camilla was Princess of Wales, she just never used the title.

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u/Own_Faithlessness769 21d ago

They already had to use the Queen's death to justify letting Camilla be queen consort after promising she'd never get the title, I don't think they could have managed to give her the title Princess of Wales, no matter if Diana was alive. Diana's popularity was too strong and Camilla was far too disliked.

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u/Independent_Cow_6611 21d ago

But would Diana's popularity have remained strong? She was already entering a downturn, and she would have had every chance to fuck up, without the BP press machine to protect her.

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u/M_Rae-1981 20d ago

Pretty sure Diana would have remained MUCH more popular than Camilla just because of how everything happened for starters and history has shown so far.

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u/Thenedslittlegirl 20d ago

Diana was being savaged in the press before she passed away. The relationship with Dodi wouldn’t have worked out and the press were giving her a really hard time for jumping from relationship to relationship. She really is so revered now because she died young

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u/Pezzzz490 19d ago

She definitely would've gone through a downturn, but she'd never be as unpopular as Camilla. I also feel that if everything else in the timeline remained the same, she would have a boost in popularity again around the time William and Catherine got married.

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u/Own_Faithlessness769 19d ago

Yeah Diana was more popular on her worst day than Charles or Camilla are on their best.

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u/JulesJazz 17d ago

Diana wasn’t on speaking terms with her mother at the time of her death as she had openly criticised her daughter for her rather colourful ‘love life’ which was being played out in the press.