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Lady_Diana andHer Ancestry
C
harles' bride was under the
baleful glare ot the public eye
for months before the r.oyal engage–
ment was announced. To put it
bluntly, she was hounded by the
" gentlemen" of the press, especial–
ly !hose avid photographers who
hung round her flat in London , her
father's home in the country, and
even the royal estate of Sandring–
ham when she was residing there.
Lady Diana stood up to all this
with remarkable courage, poise and
good humor. There was never any
question of this tall , outwardly rather
shy girl having a rude word for any
one of her tormentors. Only
19
years of age, she handled publicity
problems with complete calm and
certainty.
When at last the special time
came to tace the cameras. she was
unaffectedly sincere and straightfor–
ward in her answers. When the
Prince had proposed, she " never
had any doubts about it,' ' nor did
she fear the future " with him at my
side. ' ' Nothing original , perhaps, in
these replies. but they were inade
with an engagingly shy grace.
Lady Diana has grown up with
royalty. Her father, Earl Spencer, was
equerry to King Georgy VI, and after
his death, Oueen Elizabeth. Lady Dia–
na was christened at Sandringham
village by the Bishop of Norwich, and
one
ot
her godparents was a niece
ot
dren close to the hearts of virtual–
ly evéry famjly in the kingdom.
Prince Cha rles Himself:
A Man of Parts
There is a song sung in Wales,
part of Britain but a small coun–
try in its own right: "Among our
lovely mountains, And from our
lovely vales, O Jet the prayer be
echoed, 'God save the Prince of
Wales.'"
The heir to the throne is tradi–
tionally titled: Prince of Wales.
This has been true ever since
1301 , when the son of King
Edward
1,
aged 17, was officially
invested with this title. (He was
June / July 1981
the Oueen Mother . She had only just
left school , at the age of
16,
when she
first met Prince
Charles~
Less than a
year later she took a job, looking
after tiny tots at the Young England
kindergarten in the not-so-tashion–
able London district of Pimlico, at a
less than princely wage of $ 1,400 a
year.
Her upbringing has not been as
smooth as her tuture husband's. Her
family, indeed, were ri ch, with the
family home of Althorp in Northamp–
tonshire and its immensely valuable
15,000 acres ot farming land. But her
parents divorced in
1969
when she
was at the tender and impression–
able age of seven. But Lady Diana
has contrived to grow up totally
unspoiled as well as relatively unaf–
fected by her "split " family. As one
member of the royal household puts
it, she is "a remarkably sweet girl, "
anda prize even tora Prince . Charles
was saying no more than the truth
when he remarked,
" 1
am frankly
amazed that she is prepared to take
me on."
Her interests will match !hose of
the Prince. They both love music,
dancing and the countryside . Both
enjoy the simple things in lite; both
have a well-developed sense of
humor. Both have quietly orthodox
taste, and this is likely to show itself
when they finally fit up Charles'
Gloucestershire house of High-
named Prince of Wales at birth,
in somewhat ironic recognition of
the King's promise that Wales be
given a Prince "who can speak no
English" !) Leaders of the Welsh ,
fiercely nationalistic and utterly
opposed to English "i nvasion,"
had called themselves princes
for
a long time previously. In defer–
ence to this brave patriotism,
King Henry
IJ
of England earlier
recognized the right of Llewelyn
ap Gruggyd to the title of Prince
of Wales. Llewelyn later rebelled,
but his title became "available"
for enlightened political ·use.
Prince Charles is the 21st
Prince of Wales. His insignia
Camera Press Photo
grove. Both , after all , have grown
up in homes where history is written
large in furnishings and pictures.
A note on Lady Diana 's ancestry.
On both her father's and mother's
side, she has inherited royal blood .
She is, in fact, descended by two
different lines from one mistress,
Louise de Kerouaile, by two differ–
ent lines trom another mistress,
Lucy Walters, and from a third, Bar–
bara Villiers (or Lady Castlemaine).
Reports that she has a legitimate
line ot deseen! from Charles 11
are,
ofcourse, nonsense. Hadthatbeen
so she would have an incontestable
claim to be Oueen of England in her
own right! She does, indeed, share
with Prince Charles one common
ancestor- King James l.
Lite in the Royal Family will not be
so strange tor Lady Diana.
o
dates from the so-called Black
Prince-a coronet, a golden ring,
a silver Jining, along with a plume
of white ostrich feathers and the
motto " Jch dien ," the German for
"1
serve. " Perhaps this motto is
the noblest feature of all.
Only the Monarch can decide
when the heir to the throne should
become Pr ince of Wales. Prince
Charles' investiture in 1969 was
only thesecond since 1616, and the
only one in this century to take
place in Wales. There the prince
paid homage to his sovereign:
" 1,
Charles, Prince of Wales, do
become your liege man of life and
limb and earthly worship, and faith
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