The woman Prince Charles proposed to before Princess Diana
Many royal fans know that Prince Charles chose to propose to Diana after the Royal Family deemed his now wife, Camilla, was an unsuitable match.
However, a new documentary, released for the UK royal heir’s 70th birthday, has revealed that Diana wasn’t the first woman Charles was encouraged to propose to.
Channel 4’s documentary, The Royal House of Windsor, said that Charles’ honorary grandfather, Lord Mountbatten, encouraged him to pursue his granddaughter Amanda Knatchbull.
Amanda Knatchbull
The documentary claims Lord Mountbatten had spent years “secretly lining Amanda up as a future queen”.
Amanda was the daughter of Patricia Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma and John Knatchbull, Baron Brabourne.
Amanda’s brother, Norton, was a close friend to Charles and was given the honour of being the godfather to Prince William.
Lord Mountbatten was reportedly so determined to stop Charles’ pursuit of Camilla that he encouraged the Prince to propose to “perfect candidate” Amanda, who was nine years younger than him.
Charles’ obeyed his wishes and began courting Amanda, inviting her on the Royal Yacht Britannia for a trip to Eleuthera in the Caribbean back in 1977.
Allegedly, Charles then popped the question to Amanda and said: “Will you be my wife?”
The documentary claims that Amanda rejected his offer because they were close friends and their relationship was more like “brother and sister”.
Soon after his rejection, Charles pursued Lady Diana Spencer.
Charles and Diana eventually tied the knot on July 29, 1981.
Amanda went on to marry author Charles Vincent Ellingworth in 1987 and they had three children together.