Prince Charles almost ‘quit’ the Royal Family, threatening to work part-time from Italy, a royal expert claims.
Prince Charles got so ‘angry’ with press intrusion in to his life with Princess Diana that he threatened to ‘quit’ the Royal Family, an expert has claimed.
The Prince of Wales was married to Princess Diana (opens in new tab) for 15 years until they divorced (opens in new tab) in August 1996 but with the world’s media attention upon them, it appears Prince Charles almost stepped back from the Royal Family like his son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle by moving to a different country.
Speaking on the latest episode of Royally Us, royal expert and author Gareth Russell claimed Prince Charles wanted to move to Italy.
“That was one of the things I heard from three different people. This was really in the 1990s, at the height or depth of tabloid intrusion into his life, and Diana’s.”
He added, “I think he was, you know, he felt very, he was very angry and it was getting to the stage where it had really affected his life, his estranged wife’s life and their children’s lives.
“People forget how remorseless media intrusion to them was in the 1900s.”
(Image credit: Getty)
Prince Charles, who is second in line to the throne in royal succession (opens in new tab), had to deal with even more media after Princess Diana died (opens in new tab) in a car crash just 12 months later.
And in order to escape the media, the royal historian claimed Prince Charles planned to split his time in the UK with Italy.
“He had come up with this idea, allegedly, that he would spend six months of the year living in Tuscany in Northern Italy,” Mr Russell added.
Prince Charles is no stranger to Italy, having visited there with Diana in 1985 when they had lunch with Italian President Sandro Pertini in Rome, and most recently in 2021 he attended the G20 summit at Villa Wolkonsky Residence Gardens in Rome.
