AS I WAS SAYING
Camilla for us, Diana for the world
PEREGRINE WORSTHORNE
Most certainly Camilla Parker Bowles would never be Hollywood's idea of a princess, even when dressed up to the nines for her 50th birthday. Little chance of her becoming the world's sweetheart, or Hello's and every other colour magazine's favourite cover girl. But might not that very homeli- ness, that lack of glamour, be her saving grace, just what the British monarchy needs now to bring it down to earth again? That party photograph looked just right to me. If Queen Camilla were eventually to replace Queen Elizabeth, it really would be a case of plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
In any case, it never made much sense to have a fairytale Princess of Wales. For in the contemporary world, dominated by the demands and priorities of the media, what begins as a fairytale is pretty well bound to end up in the soap. It didn't seem so at the time. Diana's radiant beauty, excelling that of any film star, seemed ideal for the job. The whole nation could bask in her reflect- ed glory. But with the benefit of hindsight we can now see that a telegenic princess was the very last thing needed. Even a plain Princess of Wales is in danger of being taken over by the international media, but one with star quality has no hope at all. Monarchy is a brew quite intoxicating enough without having to be topped up with shots of lethal glamour.
The truth is, Britain itself is no longer powerful enough to contain a glamorous princess on the scale of Diana. To put it bluntly, once inflated by the media, such a princess becomes an international celebri- ty, not so much the future queen of Eng- land as the world's present Queen of Hearts. This was bound to happen given Diana's histrionic genius. She was bound to become a world figure from the vantage- point of whom the British monarchy, indeed the British nation, came to seem relatively unimportant.
So it will be in the future for any English- man or Englishwoman with that star quality which attracts the international media. He or she will swiftly get taken over, interna- tionalised, removed from British space, so to speak, into outer space. It would have happened to Winston Churchill had he lived today, did almost happen to Margaret Thatcher, and may now happen to Mr Blair. The temptation to occupy the world stage, rather than the national stage, becomes irre- sistible. After all, being queen of England, or even prime minister, is no very big deal any more. For those who have that extra something which makes the world's media sit up and take notice, the best that Britain has to offer will always be no more than the stepping-stone to something greater.
It never used to be like that. The greatest of ambitions could be satisfied locally. No British journalists aimed higher than to be editor of the London Times. No British banker aimed higher than to be governor of the Bank of England, and no beautiful woman aimed higher than to dance with let alone marry — the Prince of Wales. Today, however, once the media begins to do its evil work, there is no local magnetism strong enough to prevent the high-flyers wanting to flee the national nest. In other words, Diana was miscast for the role, not because she was too small for it but because she was too big. What typical com- placency ever to have imagined that a beautiful girl with that amount of willpow- er, that degree of wilfulness and egocentric- ity, could have been permanently fulfilled as Prince Charles's — or even as King Charles's — consort.
Which brings me back to Camilla Parker Bowles. Who can possibly doubt that she is much better cast for the role, precisely because she is not blessed or cursed with star quality? Although hers is a thoroughly wholesome face, full of strength and char- acter, it is not the kind to set even the Thames on fire, let alone all the other rivers of the world. What a relief! Just what the British monarchy needs. Like the US cavalry, she has arrived on the scene in the nick of time. A non-telegenic princess, a princess whom the cameras will have no difficulty in leaving alone; a princess devoid of artifice; a princess who does not crave the limelight — surely to have such a princess on tap is almost too good to be true. Instead of looking this gift horse dubi- ously in the mouth, we should be welcom- ing her with open arms. She is far more than the royal family deserves, a Princess of Wales whom the British people could once again call their very own.
Its a quick guide to Irish history.' Isn't her divorce a strike against her? A minor, increasingly undamaging strike, in my view, compared to the far more crip- pling one that rendered Diana so vulnera- ble to the depredations of the media. Even in the days of Edward VIII it was not so much that he wanted to marry a divorced woman which forced him to give up the throne as that both he and the woman he wanted to marry were empty-headed, frivolous, deracinated fly-by-nights, seduced away from this country, not in their case by the international media — the monstrous power of which in those days was still embryonic — but by international Society. If Edward VIII had been allowed to make Wallis Simpson his queen, his court would have been about as un-British as that of the early Hanoverians, not made up of Ger- mans, as was the case with the Hanoverians, but rather of a lot of international white trash. That Wallis Simpson was divorced was the excuse rather than the reason for forcing Edward to abdicate. Had he and she been ideally suitable for the throne in every other respect, Baldwin, the then prime min- ister, and Lang, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, might well have sought ways around the divorce problem. As it was, they eagerly chose to make the most of it.
Mercifully the present PM and Archbish- op seem inclined to make the least of it, rightly recognising that in every other respect Charles and Camilla would indeed make an ideal king and queen, or as near ideal as today's particular circumstances allow. Of course there will be a few attitu- dinising clerics, politicians and pundits only too happy to draw attention to all sorts of dangers and obstacles, but none of them, I believe, will be found remotely decisive when set against the overwhelming advan- tage, in this case, of letting our future king have beside him on the throne the woman he truly loves.
When Baldwin and Lang finally decided to refuse to allow King Edward to marry Wallis, they were amazed and relieved to find their decision accepted with so little controversy. If their successors decide to give their assent to the marriage of Charles and Camilla, I suspect they too will have cause to be surprised and relieved by how little fuss this causes. As for Princess Diana, she need not worry since her role as international star already has an unstop- pable momentum of its own. A happy end- ing in sight for all? I dearly hope so.
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