Bombshell At Di Death Inquest

Di Divorce Lawyer Says Di Wanted William, Not Charles, To Be Next King

(CBS)  The boy whose mother would have had him be king before his father: Prince William would have made a better one than Prince Charles, in the eyes of William's mother, Princess Diana.

That, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer, was the testimony given by a Diana divorce lawyer at the ongoing inquest into Di's death.

Diana died in a fiery car crash in a Paris tunnel on Aug. 31, 1997.

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Photos: Images From The Inquest

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The inquest heard about a dinner the princess arranged in 1997, at a time when she badly needed allies in her fight with the British royal family. With that in mind, she'd asked to meet a young Tony Blair, who at the time was just months away from becoming Britain's prime minister.

Palmer says one of Diana's divorce lawyers, Maggie Rae, told the inquest Diana wanted the British crown to skip a generation so her eldest son would succeed Queen Elizabeth.

That would deprive Charles of his chance to rule.

It might well have been Diana's anger talking, Palmer observes: She was furious with her cheating ex-husband.

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Photos: The Papparazzi Photos

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But she also felt bullied by the royal family, especially after her marital problems became public and she began doing high-profile charity work that was more edgy than conventional royal ribbon-cutting.

The royal family, old-fashioned, insular and stuffy, was incapable of changing, the princess is said to have thought; its best chance to modernize lay with young William speedily taking the throne.

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Photos: Diana: 10 Years Later

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Robert Jobson, a royals reporter for The Daily Mail, told CBS News, "The whole concept of Princess Diana's idea that William should come to the throne ahead of Prince Charles was first voiced in (a) panorama interview, in which she sort of made those claims, saying Prince Charles really wasn't fit for the top job."

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Photos: Diana's Ill-Fated Journey

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The handsome young prince is already hugely popular, Palmer points out, while Charles -- awkward and patrician -- isn't. In fact, in a 2006 poll, more than a third of Britons asked agreed that William should leapfrog his father onto the throne.

[kevzgrl]

robertkjjj: ROFLMAO!!!
You are absolutely right! How is this NEWS to anyone? After the horrible marriage that they SHOULD NOT have been in, and the horrible divorce, and seeing him take up with the "other woman" again, how did anyone THINK she would feel? Of course, she would favor her son over old Charlie - after all, his mind is stuck in his gardens, not on ruling the UK.
It has been over 10 years now since her death - WHY can''t they let it go - why is this still reported so breathlessly??? The monarchy isn''t going to skip over Charles just because SHE wanted William to have the job.

[keithle1]

Duh. Why is that such a bombshell? Di hated Charles. Marriage was over soon after it began. Of course she''s going to put William over Charles. She loved her sons more than anything or anyone.

[enriquecaliente]

Who the hell cares.!? Other then living high on the hog and adding nothing to the well being of fellow Englishmen and women. What does the so called Royal family do. Magazine fodder, play Polo and Cricket. They have no power at all. In order to keep royal blood royal, they have to in-breed.

[vittoria1]

Amen, p-syrus. Unfortunately, Charles, raised according to a virtually Edwardian conception of monarchy, did stupidly cave in to pressure -- his real love was not available to him -- and he married a dim, emotionally-troubled late adolescent with whom he had nothing in common. He behaved badly, but so did Diana. That marriage would have been doomed if Camilla Parker Bowles had never existed.

But the public and the media fell for the youth, the looks, the wardrobe, and the fairytale title. By the time things fell apart, no one was disposed to consider that perhaps Diana had been a very poor choice of bride and had been as responsible for the failure of her marriage as Charles. Certainly, no was considering that other members of the royal family, including Charles himself, had done (and are still doing) more, and much more substantive, charity work than Diana ever did. Instead, she was the empathetic Angel of Charity, and he was the villain, despite Diana''s affairs with married men and her evident lack of concern about the wives of two or three men she slept with.

Charles is flawed -- aren''t we all? -- but he should be king. By the time he succeeds, he''ll be fairly elderly, and many people, fortunately, will have no memory of Diana and no emotional investment in her memory. We''ll hope that by that time, William will have pulled himself together, married, and demonstrated some serious focus and responsibility.

[mbcsmith]

CBS news: Diana died in a fiery car crash in a Paris tunnel on Aug. 31, 1997.

Funny. I saw the tape and there was no fire. CBS just can''t get it straight.

[p-syrus]

Wow, a woman who disliked her husband because he was a cheater!!!

Posted by robertkjjj

Actually the truly amusing thing is: Charles left the "beautiful young wife" for a much older woman (his own age), a woman who is not publically accounted as "glamorous, young, & beautiful" but who is in fact the real love of his life.

Good for Charles! Congratulations to the Prince & his Duchess.

In other words, there really is a fairy tale Prince Charming love story here but it involves Charles & Camilla. Di was the intruder. Camilla was and is the true love of Charles'' life.

Di was simply an attractive if empty-headed (self-described) blond Charles'' family pressured him to marry for "dynastic" reasons. That in itself should have been enough to cause any sensible person to run the other way.

If there is a lesson to learn from this episode about love & marriage it would be that it is far more important to marry for love & mutual compatibility than for youth, beauty, glamour, and virginity.

[anniekapn]

Finding one(s)''s faith, what mistake do you expect me to make at this moment. Charlie is mine, we will be there, on the sofa, for tea, Queen Elizabeth II. I know I suffocate him like a prophecy rag doll. Of course, I would prefer to be left out of Diana vigor family must do exhanges. I will accept whatever toad in the hole tolls; Charles of Wales contest William of Wales. Sorry, I get a little lost sometimes, I need my baby/DNA-Locked child(ren). Annie

[vittoria1]

No, I am not confusing William with Harry, my facts are quite straight. Both of them have repeatedly been photographed leaving nightclubs looking very much the worse for wear, but it is not Harry under discussion here. If you read the British papers as much as I do, you''d know that the British themselves have been commenting negatively on the extent of William''s recreational activities.

[sharedthough]

People are right to admire Diana for various things she did, such as seeking an end to land mines. But, can''t we just admire & remember her for her life? Why must new tidbits about her just KEEP dribbling out from time to time as the years go by?

[robertkjjj]

Wow, a woman who disliked her husband because he was a cheater!!! How shocking!!! What a bombshell!!! Oh also, tonight on the 11pm news: "Water is Wet!!!" ,"The Sun is Hot", and "Babies Cry!!!". All stunning bombshells, all awaiting you, the viewer.

[vittoria1]

This isn''t a bombshell. It''s hardly news -- or remotely surprising -- that Diana should have wanted her own son to succeed the Queen or that she should have naively thought that somehow Tony Blair could bring this about. (She wasn''t particularly bright ot well-informed.)

As for the public''s view, Charles may not be popular, but despite his sordid marital problems, he''s spent a lifetime being prepared for the role of king and has accomplished much more than people realize. William is only 25 and hasn''t accomplished anything much besides spending a lot of time falling out of nightclubs and taking expensive vacations.