The fury caused by Charles Spencer’s explosive memoir of his sister Diana is quite understandable.
asserted
fury → cause → sister
Hasn’t the King got enough on his plate, what with the scandal of his brother Andrew, the return of Meghan and Harry to Britain, the frailty of his own health?
asserted
King → get → health
Even if Charles Spencer is understandably still angry with his ex-brother-in-law, could he not have been kind enough to keep his thoughts to himself?
uncertain
he → keep → himself
Thirty years ago, Charles Windsor was one of the most hated men in England, and his then girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles was one of the most hated women.
asserted
girlfriend → hat → women
But time has passed.
asserted
time → pass → ?
Much to many people’s surprise, Prince Charles, who had inflicted such damage on the monarchy by his marital disaster, turned out to be a kindly, good-humoured old king, brave and dignified in his illness, and much-loved in many circles.
asserted
who → inflict → circles
Mrs Parker Bowles has visibly been a wise, long-suffering companion to him.
asserted
Bowles → suffer → him
We have all committed sins in our youth.
asserted
We → commit → youth
Isn’t it time to let bygones be bygones?
asserted
bygones → let → ?
And why should Lord Spencer selfishly come and spoil it all by writing his ‘malicious’ memoirs?
asserted
Spencer → come → memoirs
This is the line being peddled by the so-called ‘friends of the King’, who have been briefing so vigorously against Charles Spencer, hurling every possible insult against him, deriding him for his own failed marriages, and even suggesting his motives for writing Swan Song were a twisted mixture of malice and the need to pay the alimony to his third ex.
asserted
motives → peddle → ex
All these reactions are understandable, but they also mysteriously miss the point.
asserted
they → miss → point
It seems to me blindingly obvious that Charles Spencer was right to publish his book, and right to do so now.
asserted
Spencer → seem → book
First, because what he has said and written is true.
asserted
said → say → what
The King has expostulated, but he has not denied the substantial truth of Spencer’s recollections.
asserted
he → expostulate → recollections
AN Wilson has met Charles Spencer on a number of occasions, and has stayed at Althorp three times
It is quite unthinkable that he has invented, for example, the by-now notorious telephone call which concluded with the then Prince of Wales saying: ‘We’ll forget her soon enough.’
asserted
We → meet → her
Equally true – Charles Spencer himself told me this anecdote years ago, not that long after his father’s death – is his memory of Prince Charles, on the day of John Spencer’s funeral, saying to the young, grief-stricken earl: ‘You’re so lucky!’
asserted
You → tell → earl
Although the prince was attending the funeral of his father-in-law, the day was seen, entirely, through Charles Windsor’s own eyes.
asserted
day → attend → eyes
It was all about him – yet another reason for everyone to feel sorry for Prince Charles.
asserted
everyone → feel → Charles
As far as he saw things, Spencer was ‘lucky’ to inherit his father’s title, whereas poor old Prince Charles was still waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for his mother to die.
asserted
mother → see → title
It is not entirely clear how much our King has a sense of humour.
asserted
King → have → humour
(His love of the appalling Goon Show might suggest not.)
uncertain
love → suggest → Show
He would not have had the lightness of touch of his forebear, Prince Bertie (later Edward VII).
asserted
He → have → forebear
Coming down the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, having celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of his mother Queen Victoria, Bertie heard his equerry say what a beautiful service it had been.
asserted
it → come → mother
‘Ah!’ said Bertie.
asserted
Bertie → say → ?
‘You have just spent an hour offering thanks to the Eternal Father.
asserted
You → spend → Father
But I am cursed with the Eternal Mother.’
asserted
I → curse → Mother
Charles Windsor has been longing all his life to be centre stage.
asserted
Windsor → long → ?
He could not wait to be King, but his mother made him wait until she was 96.
uncertain
she → wait → ?
His parents neglected him, and then, after 15 years of adulthood and a series of unsuitable partners, he was married off, against his will in what was essentially an arranged marriage, to his 20-year-old bride, Diana Spencer.
asserted
what → neglect → bride
Prince Charles and Earl Spencer have a conversation next to Nelson Mandela, after a banquet in Cape Town
Diana immediately wowed the crowds on a prodigious scale.
asserted
Diana → have → scale
Having played second fiddle to his mother for 30 years, Prince Charles visibly sulked and pouted while the world fell in love with his wife.
asserted
world → play → wife
And, with appalling cruelty and clumsiness, he told her that he did not love her on the night before their wedding and continued to go on seeing Mrs Parker Bowles – the only sensible person in his life apart from his sister, Anne.
asserted
he → tell → sister
No wonder Diana was shattered by her husband’s adultery, and no wonder her brother continues to feel her pain.
asserted
brother → shatter → pain
I would say Charles Spencer and I were friendly acquaintances, rather than friends, but we have met on a number of occasions.
asserted
we → say → occasions
I have stayed at Althorp three times and, for a while, we shared an agent.
asserted
we → stay → agent
I first met him in a modest but stylish Oxford restaurant, when he was an undergraduate wearing all the ‘subfusc’ – white tie and gown – which students put on to take their final exams.
asserted
students → meet → exams
And he was being given a celebratory lunch by his sister – Diana.
asserted
he → give → sister
On that occasion, as with the next time we met, years later, when she came to lunch at the Evening Standard newspaper where I worked, she bubbled with charm, humour and delicacy.
asserted
she → meet → charm
And you felt that if you were married to her, you would be totally obscured.
asserted
you → feel → her
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
