Quotes From the Book as Easy as Fallling Offf the Face of the Earth
Marrying for love or duty: A look at royal couples
foreign reporter Peter Goodspeed looks at
this week, asking if their union will change the monarchy. Below, we take a look a few other royal couples who went against the grain.
Princess Anne set the trend for her siblings by wedding a commoner for love in 1973. Mark Phillips, then an army first lieutenant, was firmly middle class, having been educated privately at Marlborough — later to become Kate Middleton's alma mater — and the military academy Sandhurst. The couple met through their shared interest in horses and equitation. Both have competed internationally and in the Olympics, with Phillips being a member of the British team that won a gold at Munich.
He is thought to have turned down a peerage on marrying into the Royal Family, the first man ever to have done so. In addition, the couple's children have not been given titles.
By the early 1980s, there were rumours of problems in their marriage and the relationship was often described as stormy. Phillips is known to have fathered an illegitimate daughter; Anne was suspected of involvement with a member of her security detail. The marriage ended in divorce in 1989 and both have since remarried.
As with his sister Anne, Prince Andrew's choice of spouse did not really concern anyone other than himself — the succession was unlikely to be affected. Sarah Ferguson (Fergie), though a commoner was drawn like Diana from the circle surrounding the Royals — her father Major Ronald Ferguson managed the Prince of Wales' polo team.
The flame-haired Sarah looked likely to bring a welcome breath of fresh air. Her addition was more like a hurricane. There were complaints, for example, when she was seen at Ascot with Princess Diana playfully poking a friend with an umbrella. Andrew and Sarah were also criticized for the vulgarity of the home they built in Windsor Great Park.
Though officially Duchess of York, Sarah found it difficult to behave like a princess and the couple divorced after 10 years of marriage. But while Andrew was discreet (or lucky) about girlfriends, she was pursued by photographers. Famously, she was snapped topless having her toes sucked by a lover, and this year captured on tape telling an undercover reporter she could sell access to her ex for £500,000. Now she seems likely to have to declare bankruptcy.
In 1946, and despite her father's objections because of her youth, Princess Elizabeth, 20, became secretly engaged to the then Prince Philip. It was only the following year, after her father, George VI, relented, that a public announcement was made.
Although the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are said to be devoted to each other, there has never been any doubt about the role of duty in the Queen's life.
In 1947, she visited South Africa, her first overseas trip, and in an historic radio broadcast said, "I declare before you that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial Commonwealth to which we all belong."
It is a promise she has kept for more than 60 years.
On the day their engagement was announced in February 1981, a shy Lady Diana Spencer, arm tightly linked with her future husband, Prince Charles, gave an unequivocal answer when asked whether they were in love.
"Yes, of course," she said, smiling coyly.
Prince Charles's answer was more philosophical, and a little puzzling: "Whatever love means, of course."
It was an early sign that love and duty would collide, that while the 19-year-old Lady Diana was head-over-heels in love with the 32-year-old, he was, perhaps, not as enamoured.
She soon found the life of a Royal constricting. She dreaded the courtiers, the "men in grey suits" as she called them, felt badly treated by the Royal family, and denigrated by Prince Charles. Within five years, their marriage was reportedly on the rocks and he was seeing a former girlfriend.
By the early 1990s, their affairs were being widely publicized, intimate details and taped phone calls were being released to the press, and they were doing television interviews to save their reputations.
In 1996, they divorced.
Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/marrying-for-love-or-duty-a-look-at-royal-couples
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