Tina Brown Article from 1985

I ended up coming across this Tina Brown Vanity Fair article from 1985 that has been scanned into the internet. It is mainly about Diana, but has some interesting takes on Charles as well. I have posted some below.

"Relations between father and son these days are so strained that when Prince Charles walks into a room Prince Philip walks out of it. He expressed his displeasure by not visiting Prince Harry until six weeks after the birth."

"Nor, most important, was it Diana who drove out the trusted Edward Adeane, along with Oliver Everett, Diana's private secretary, and Francis Cornish, the prince's assistant private secretary, who recently hopped it to some white man's grave in Borneo.

Adeane left because he was utterly dismayed by the motley crew of mystics, spiritualists, and self-sufficiency freaks acting as the prince's unofficial advisers. He simply could not stand working for a man whose private office had become redundant. He wanted Prince Charles to confront the need to create a serious role in British national life. He urged Charles to make Queen Elizabeth give him something real to do. With his opera interests he could, say, become chairman of the Royal Opera House. With his gardening interests he could be secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society. Dammit, there were respectable public outfits for Charles's new solitary passions. But Charles frustrated Adeane by refusing to push himself forward. Instead he took the chance to dismantle his office. It meant there would be no one to nag him anymore about duty. His tally of official engagements dropped off noticeably. He seemed to become obsessed with his children. Like John Lennon, who spent the last years of his life as a recluse playing with his son in the Dakota, Prince Charles has turned into a house husband."

"Charles, for his part, was happy for his bride to evolve into the Super Sloane Ranger, but less wild about the excesses of the new princessly development. His estates bring him an income of over £1 million a year, but he is frugal to the point of meanness. One of his less endearing traits is to check the refrigerator at Highgrove for any sign the servants are overeating at his expense. "

"If Princess Diana is a very young twenty-four, he is a very old thirty-six. Only Prince Charles could have picked a navy-blue suit to wear to the Live Aid concert. He allowed Diana to stay for only an hour before dragging her away to watch polo. ("My wife made me go to some pop jamboree," he grumbled to a friend.)"

https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/e88e2f33-7893-439c-9aea-adfb2565987a?_ga=2.168631401.911327864.1609683706-744501564.1609082970