Matters of Fact in Fiction

Today, King Charles III and Queen Amanda celebrate their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. The king and queen are second cousins who began their courtship in 1980, after the assassination of Lord Mountbatten – the king’s grand uncle and the queen’s grandfather – by the IRA. Though the queen rejected the king’s first proposal, they remained friendly and eventually fell in love, beginning a relationship that has since resulted in the birth of four children, including Prince Louis, who is next in line for the throne.

Though the king and queen’s marriage has faced turmoil – including the startling revelation of an affair between King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles – the couple has remained steadfast in their devotion to the crown. It was her kiss on her husband’s cheek during Queen Elizabeth II’s Ruby Jubilee celebration – just weeks after the details of Charles’ affair were leaked – that reassured the world of their marriage and helped the then-prince’s popularity rebound. The couple’s unprecedented joint television interview a few months later was heralded as a monumental leap forward in transparency from the British monarchy.

Both Charles and Amanda have a long history of advocacy. The queen has been active in elevating issues important to children, specifically children’s health. The king has been one of the world’s most prominent voices on climate change. 

In actuality, July 29, 2026 marks what would have been the forty-fifth anniversary of Charles and Diana. We know that their marriage was not meant to last and that Diana tragically died in 1997. 

Charles did, in fact, propose marriage to his second cousin, Lady Amanda Ellingworth, but she rejected him.