King Charles Gay?

CaptainCalvert

Even in the 80s, most people would probably shrug and get on with their lives [1], but the tabloids would explode if not stamped on firmly.
On the positive side, we might be spared the ghastly Saint Diana experience, but then we might get Prince Andrew, Prince of Wales, King in waiting.

[1] In the late 70s and early 80s people would likely make allowances for or turn a blind eye to royals, like they did for politicians, pop stars and DJs. Also, most younger people, while not fully accepting, tended not to care that much.
 
Clandango

Clandango

I expect he would still get married. After all, it was just How Things Were Done. Though people would be concerned or mock Charles if it did ever come out, using old stereotypes of homosexuals (when not being predators) as being effeminate weaklings. Mostly just ends up as more tabloid fodder I suppose, but if he marries Diana or another woman and does NOT cheat on them, and merely keeps any sex he has with his spouse to very limited times for the sake of having kids, he could end up with a loveless, but still potentially friendly marriage.
 
Dan

Dan

casualcharlie said:
What will be the social ramification
What will be the international reaction
How will it affect Britain as a whole?
Click to expand...
Social ramifications in Britain during the 70's and 80's? None at all. It would just never be spoken about. Not even by the Red Tops. Ever. It would be taboo to even joke about it. I doubt even the "Radical left" comedians like Alexi Sayle, Ben Elton or Harry Enfield would joke about it, certainly not on the BBC. You might, at most, get a "Queen Charles" joke on a late night Channel 4 live show, But very, very rarely.
There's nothing like the "establishment" closing ranks around the Royals. So the effect would be minimal. Probably a quiet act of Parliament to allow Prince Charles to abdicate his position in the line of Succession.

Not sure about international reactions though.

Would Charles "come out"? I think if he did, it would likely be in the late 90's, in the Blair years as part of "Cool Britannia". I doubt there'd be an announcement, I think the taboo would gently dissolve until his sexuality was a matter of open discussion.
At this point, I could see Marriage Equality passing about 10 years earlier than OTL, but that's about it. If it did come to a defining moment, it would probably be a very small piece in the London Gazette that former Royal Navy Commander Arthur Windsor married his long term companion [add name here] at a registry office near [Cornish town].
I don't think you'd get a "Royal Wedding" out of it. Questions about a later generation coming out might be better suited for Pol Chat.
 

CaptainCalvert

Don't forget that if Charles was reluctant to marry Diana it was at least in part because Charles wanted to marry Camilla but wasn't allowed to because she'd been married before. That doesn't mean he didn't have other interests, but it suggests that he has more tabloid- and establishment- friendly preferences, which - at the time - would have been effective at stopping any overt discussions in the mainstream media.
 

alspug

With the clear sense of duty with which King Charles has acted throughout his life I have zero doubt he would marry whoever he was told then sire a few children followed by appearing in public to be a happy married man.

Having said that I really do not believe in any way shape or form that the former Prince Charles would have turned gay over not being allowed to marry Camilla. he may have been upset and unhappy at being denied the love of his life but he still did his duty to the crown and tried to make his marraige to Diane work. One of the people on the board was a close protection officer for him and offered testimony that changed my opinion of who wrecked the marraige and who strayed first.
 
juanml82

juanml82

Morbid thought: Prince Charles, closeted gay, married Diana. He fools around in secret during the 1980s and contracts HIV. Diana doesn't, as they stopped having sex after the second children. How does it develop from there?
 

Sam R.

In the UK in the 1970s and 1980s there was a miniscule far left movement called Solidarity (UK) which was a cardanist workerist movement. It seems to have helped spawned the deliberately queer Homocult art movement ( https://chrishubley.medium.com/ , https://desperate-living.com/2021/06/19/homocult-the-anarcho-queer-provocateurs-of-the-1990s/ ). Homocult was fairly northern English, rabidly working class, and willing to go the throat of non-working class homosexuality, particularly institutional homosexualiy ( https://i0.wp.com/desperate-living.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/homocult09.jpg?w=583&ssl=1 ). They seem as though they would be willing to mention such a *Charles' personal life.

Given they're a small, non-institutional, queer, regional art movement I doubt there'd be a deep cultural impact except in the matter of conceptions of internal policing in the UK; unless someone does something stupid. There was a measure of cross-over between Northern English Homocult interested artists and Northern English Warhammer (self-deprecatingly ironic fantasy and space-fantasy miniature war gaming) artists though.

yours,
Sam R.

The * to indicate that this is not referring to the historical person still living.
 

Garrison

Donor
casualcharlie said:
Prince Charles considered gay turn before marrying Diana - NZ Herald

I've come across this article a few weeks ago, and this question had been keep bugging me, what if Prince Charles was indeed Gay?

What will be the social ramification
What will be the international reaction
How will it affect Britain as a whole?
Click to expand...
Little impact as I expect as it will be firmly kept under wraps and he will still be expected to marry. If he isn't prepared to toe the line then he might have to step aside and do not think there would be that much sympathy in the 1980s.
 

DougM

It depends a LOT on what version of “gay” we are talking about.
Closeted but willing to marry for the sake of the dynasty . So he marries and has kids and it is kept secret. In this case then you may get much of OTL.
Closeted but unwilling to get married or have kids. This is hard to keep secret as folks will simply start to make assumptions that is why he never married
Open but after having kids
Open but willing to marry and have kid
Open and not willing to marry/have kid
Open but looks like someone from a late 1970s or early 1980s sitcom

All of these have different results.
But i believe that there was no provision to remove him from the line of succession.
 

Sekhmet_D

juanml82 said:
Morbid thought: Prince Charles, closeted gay, married Diana. He fools around in secret during the 1980s and contracts HIV. Diana doesn't, as they stopped having sex after the second children. How does it develop from there?
Click to expand...
You call that a morbid thought? A truly morbid thought is him spreading it to Di and the kids.
 
the Imperium of Canada

the Imperium of Canada

alspug said:
With the clear sense of duty with which King Charles has acted throughout his life I have zero doubt he would marry whoever he was told then sire a few children followed by appearing in public to be a happy married man.

Having said that I really do not believe in any way shape or form that the former Prince Charles would have turned gay over not being allowed to marry Camilla. he may have been upset and unhappy at being denied the love of his life but he still did his duty to the crown and tried to make his marraige to Diane work. One of the people on the board was a close protection officer for him and offered testimony that changed my opinion of who wrecked the marraige and who strayed first.
Click to expand...
People don't "turn gay". that's not how sexuality works
 

alspug

the Imperium of Canada said:
People don't "turn gay". that's not how sexuality works
Click to expand...
The original post was a link to a tabloid claiming he thought about turning gay. ie the post was about turning gay. Not going to argue how sexuality works as my understanding is that it's impossible to explain as different for every person due to their feelings and experiences.
 

CaptainCalvert

juanml82 said:
Morbid thought: Prince Charles, closeted gay, married Diana. He fools around in secret during the 1980s and contracts HIV. Diana doesn't, as they stopped having sex after the second children. How does it develop from there?
Click to expand...
From what I've heard, it would be more likely Diana gets it first.
 
Derek Pullem

Derek Pullem

Donor
It's not like it hasn't happened before - that is the reason for the "spare". But as others have said the manner of Charles being gay is the issue not the idea that he is gay. With no children then Andrew gets a chance at being King - although whether he would be permitted to marry Fergie in this context is debatable.

Almost certainly doesn't get the freedom to jet off around the world on trade missions, meeting Epstein etc. He may get pulled from active flying - the example of William is 20+ years later and probably not a good idea to have future King as Exocet decoy in the Falklands.
 

I lurk therefore I am

casualcharlie said:
Prince Charles considered gay turn before marrying Diana - NZ Herald

I've come across this article a few weeks ago, and this question had been keep bugging me, what if Prince Charles was indeed Gay?

What will be the social ramification
What will be the international reaction
How will it affect Britain as a whole?
Click to expand...

It would be kept very hidden

Charles would do his duty, have a fairytale wedding involving a suitable bride from aristocratic background who was fully aware of the score, and once the heir and spare were produced, both would free to have discreet affairs far away from the gaze of the public / media.

There have been several English monarchs who were believed to be gay, so nothing new there.
 
Last edited:

Don Corleone

juanml82 said:
Morbid thought: Prince Charles, closeted gay, married Diana. He fools around in secret during the 1980s and contracts HIV. Diana doesn't, as they stopped having sex after the second children. How does it develop from there?
Click to expand...

He dies because they haven't yet figured out that liquifying $100,000 in cash and injecting it is a cure. Will succeeds Elizabeth II.

Diana's death is butterflied. They just pretend to be married for appearances since he doesn't want to marry Camilla. Officially he received a tainted blood transfusion. Conspiracy theories about how he really got AIDS replace conspiracy theories about Di's death.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top