WHILE Prince William is clearly reluctant to marry at an early age, he will be anxious not to follow the unhappy precedent of his father who spent years regretting his failure to propose to Camilla Shand during their first romance. Prince Charles was among those fortunate people who meet the love of their life at an early age. The disaster that caused upheaval for the royal family was that he failed to realise it.

As a young man, Charles dated some of the most beautiful women in the world. While there was huge press interest in each of his companions, there was not the same scale of 24-hour international media coverage with which William has to contend.

Charles first started dating Camilla in the early 1970s, when the famous picture of them chatting by a tree was taken. When he left for Royal Navy duty, he failed to propose and Camilla started going out with Andrew Parker Bowles, who became her husband.

Charles dated a string of other women, including:

o Lucia Santa Cruz. The daughter of the Chilean ambassador to London met Charles at Cambridge University and was said to be his first proper girlfriend, although she always insisted there was no romance. She left Britain in 1973 and married a Chilean politician.

o Sabrina Guinness. A member of the banking arm of the Guinness clan, the couple dated for nine months. Guinness has never married and recently went out with Paul McCartney.

o Lady Jane Wellesley. The Radio Times journalist and daughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington dated Charles for 18 months and it was predicted that she would be the royal bride. But when asked if she would accept an offer of marriage, she said she “didn’t want another title”.

o Sarah Spencer. The elder sister of Diana, Princess of Wales, went out with Charles in 1978. The relationship was said to be platonic and Spencer later married Neil McCorquodale, a landowner.

o Diana, Princess of Wales. Charles is said to have noticed the then Diana Spencer at a shooting party in 1977. He referred to her later as a “very jolly and amusing and attractive 16-year old — full of fun”.

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