45 years since the most memorable royal engagement: Charles, Lady Di and a blue (catalog) ring

BarcelonaSome royal accounts say that the current King Charles III once told his ex-wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, before their separation, that she could learn a bit more from Sarah Ferguson, who had great charisma and was very pragmatic about palace matters. More of a smile for the outside world and less vulnerability behind closed doors was what he demanded of the mother of his children, a woman who suffered greatly at his hands not because of his own personality but because of the way he treated her. This statement resonates more than ever these days, now that we've learned that the cheerful and pragmatic Fergie was even worse than we imagined: a ruthless woman capable of acting without any principles to achieve her goals, which were almost always material. Just to give one example: after Epstein was convicted of pimping and attempting to prostitute a minor in 2008, she took her two daughters to meet him at the Florida mansion where he was under house arrest. As if to ingratiate herself with the millionaire who we now also know supported her for almost a decade. Like a kind of offering. If Diana had been like Ferguson, as her husband asked her to be, Charles III might not be king today, just as his brother is no longer a prince...

This phrase from the monarch resonates these days both because of the ongoing Epstein case and because of the anniversary commemorated this past Tuesday: the 45th anniversary of the announcement of Charles III's engagement to Lady Di. Or, to put it another way: 45 years since the most tragic day of Diana's life, something she perhaps didn't know at the time, although, looking at the images with a modern perspective, you can see that she may have sensed it. We all remember that day so vividly that it seems like only yesterday, but four and a half decades have passed since, after a statement from Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales presented to the world the woman he had chosen to marry: a young provincial aristocrat who seemed the perfect candidate to make Charles forget the married woman he was in love with. The woman who, despite all that drama, is today the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the entire Commonwealth: Camilla Parker Bowles.

It wasn't a fairy tale

Forty-five years after that brief stroll the couple took through Buckingham Palace gardens, where the British public first met their future queen, we see with different eyes how a grown man of 32—unusually single at that point—chose to marry a young woman who was barely 19. Forty-five years later, we understand that this young woman was thoroughly deceived, despite believing it was a fairy tale and that she had been chosen to live it. Now we also understand that in a family like hers, no one ever warned her that things might not be what they seemed. In an aristocratic family like hers, they felt chosen by that whim of fate that had lifted them from a semi-peripheral county to become direct relatives of the Windsors. Forty-five years later, we see Diana as a sacrificial victim of that whole mess of family interests on both sides, transformed into a pseudo-romantic relationship that would become the most important royal wedding of the 20th century.

In retrospect, we also see that what was then sold as a sign of modernity was nothing more than a clear demonstration of disdain on Charles's part. A disdain that his fiancée must have easily interpreted as an act of contempt in front of the whole world. It turns out that Diana was the first member of the British royal family to be proposed to with a jewel that had not been expressly designed for her. In fact, Charles's disinterest in his future wife was such that, apart from not having a jewel made for her,ad hoc"Despite having every means to do it—or to have it made—he was inconsiderate enough to bring her a Garrard catalog and tell her to choose whichever ring she liked best. This is the sad story of one of the most famous rings of all time.

A jewel for the ages

That blue ring, with its imposing 12-carat oval-cut sapphire surrounded by 14 diamonds—a ring so many other women have coveted ever since—marked the beginning of a tragic marriage, the details of which we gradually came to understand. However, far from becoming a symbol of ill omen, it is now an international tribute to Diana. Firstly, because Kate Middleton wears it to the most important events on her calendar, as the worthy successor to her mother-in-law that she is. And secondly, because that piece of jewelry was chosen by Diana herself, inspired by her mother's striking blue eyes. Therefore, it wasn't chosen by Charles, which would have certainly given it a less charismatic aura.

Furthermore, it's worth noting that Lady Di wore the ring even after her divorce as an act of self-affirmation, proclaiming with it that she was the mother of the future heirs to the British monarchy, a reality the institution itself detested. In fact, this ring is also considered blessed in the relationship between brothers William and Harry, as, according to various experts, Harry inherited it when he turned 30. However, recognizing the symbolic value of the piece, he agreed to let his older brother keep it, as Harry was the one destined to inherit the throne and one day present his fiancée to the world, as had happened with their mother. This gesture between brothers would be unthinkable today given their nonexistent relationship. Perhaps the passing of the ring was the last fraternal gesture between them... More than just a ring, it has become a talisman...

Crying with Grace Kelly

Two weeks after being presented by Charles, Diana appeared at her first official engagement, a charity concert at the Royal Opera House in London. It was March 9, 1981, and Grace Kelly, by then a fully established pop icon thanks to her transition from Hollywood queen to princess of the French Riviera, was also invited. Years later, it was reported that the evening was anything but happy for Diana, who had already discovered the married life that awaited her with Charles, a difficult situation to resolve because she had announced two weeks earlier that she would marry the heir to the British throne in July of that same year. She was already completely trapped. Some journalists recorded that Grace of Monaco found her crying in the opera house restroom. With the sarcasm typical of a 51-year-old woman who had survived working with Hitchcock and 25 years of being hounded by the tabloids, Her Serene Highness of Monaco told the young Diana: "Don't worry, my dear, it will only get worse."

The day Charles introduced Diana, 45 years ago now, he presented his "infatuation"As a gradual process." This must be the saddest way ever used to describe a love story that had just begun. He didn't even try to hide it. To top it all off, the prince also answered the question of whether they were in love with "yes, whatever being in love means." We now know very well that back then he knew exactly what being in love meant. But not with Diana. She, on the other hand, hadn't had time to compare. The rest is history.