Who do you believe in the royal row between the two Charleses: Charles the King, Charles Rex, or Charles Spencer, the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales?

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I wasn’t in the room when the conversation took place. I cannot vouch for the tone or the precise words that were said. So ultimately, it comes down to which version of events chimes most closely with what you already understand about that family, the relationship between Charles and Diana, and the horrific period surrounding her death.

And, with all those caveats, I find myself leaning towards Charles Spencer.

There’s a scene in The Crown where Charles and Diana have a huge row over Camilla and Charles describes their marriage as a “grotesque misalliance”. It is important to distinguish drama from reality, but I wouldn’t use the word grotesque. That seems extraordinarily harsh. It was, however, certainly a misalliance.

The Spencers and the Windsors had been connected for centuries. Diana’s father was an equerry to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, while both her grandmothers were ladies-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. Her maternal grandmother, Ruth, Lady Fermoy, was particularly close to her.

The two families were effectively in cahoots to get the marriage of the young, beautiful, virginal 19-year-old Diana to the 31-year-old future king off the ground.

They had it all plotted out. What could........

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