© Blair Gable
Summer 2017 is proving to be particularly gruesome in the court of public opinion for the prince and his consort, as the annual wave of Diana-related stories to mark the anniversary of her death on August 31, 1997, have been given added impetus by the fact that this year marks the 20th anniversary of her demise.
As Diana news, Diana tapes and Diana tributes have flooded the media once again, Charles (the husband who told his wife: "I refuse to be the only Prince of Wales never to have a mistress,") and Camilla (the temptress who pursued an affair that helped destroy Diana's marriage) have come in for a particularly forceful annual hiding.
A new poll shows the British in unforgiving mood, with just 20% surveyed by the Daily Express now thinking that Camilla should be Queen.
Prince Charles's officials have always publicly maintained that Camilla will be known as 'Princess Consort' however, as the Daily Beast exclusively revealed this year, Charles is secretly planning to unilaterally declare Camilla 'Queen' upon accession to the throne.
Another survey by the Sun over the weekend made similar findings, with just 27% saying that Camilla should be Queen.
Both surveys were carried out by accredited polling organizations and both involve credible samples: the Sunday Express survey interviewed 2,018 UK-based adults and the Sun spoke to a sample of 2,000 people.
Equally depressing for Charles will be the news that he remains unloved by the populace at large.
51% of respondents in the Sun survey said they thought the Crown should skip a generation and pass next to Prince William.
The poll results come as Charles has been battered by weeks of damaging headlines ahead of the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
In tapes recorded by her voice coach-and played on a Channel 4 documentary last week-Diana said that when she challenged Charles about his affair with Camilla he responded: "I refuse to be the only Prince of Wales never to have a mistress."
© Associated PressIn this April 23, 1991 file photo, Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana, laugh together during their visit to an iron ore mine near Carajas, Brazil. Producers of a new documentary, to be aired Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017…
The poll numbers will make miserable reading for Charles.
When asked by a U.S. network in 2012 whether his wife could be Queen, he said: 'We'll see won't we? That could be.'
In recent years the Duchess had also appeared to be winning over the nation with her public work, and events around her 70th birthday in July had apparently been well received.
Charles has always cherished the hope that Camilla would one day be accepted by the public.
However, it appears from these new numbers that there is double trouble at Clarence House, for as well as remaining unenthusiastic about his wife, the great unwashed don't seem overly enamored with the future King Charles III either.
Of course, opinion polls come and go and we have been here before.
The Daily Beast's sources have repeatedly assured us there is a greater chance of a snowball making it through the fires of hell without melting than there is of Charles giving up his birthright and destiny.
But Charles is surprisingly practical - and if he has to throw the Camilla-as-queen idea under the bus of public opinion to achieve his own accession, he may well yet decide it is in his best interests to do so.
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