When it comes to the ladies in King Charles’s life, three names come to mind: his first wife, Princess Diana; his second wife, Queen Camilla; and his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. But before Charles “settled down” (those quotes are working overtime) with Diana, he was known as the world’s most eligible bachelor and earned a reputation as a “playboy prince” thanks to the sheer number of women he dated. Most of whom were spotted accompanying him to various, uh, romantic (?) polo matches.
According to Charles’s valet (in Sarah Bradford’s biography Diana), he had a very specific “recipe for the perfect woman” (ew), which involved her being “tall, blonde, curvaceous, and with an English rose complexion.” Uh. So much that could be said and analyzed about this, but moving on! Here’s a comprehensive list of everyone Charles dated publicly—and FYI, much of this information was sourced from Bradford’s biography, which you can buy right here:
Penguin Books Diana: Finally, the Complete Story
Bettina Lindsay
Charles and Bettina were linked after being spotted attending a concert together in 1970. Of course, we don’t know for sure if they were in a full-on relationship, but paps snapped a pic of them on their way back from the show!
Lucia Santa Cruz
Lucia was said to be Prince Charles’s college girlfriend (this photo of them was snapped in 1970), but ironically, she’s actually the one who introduced him to…
Camilla Shand
Also known as Queen Camilla. Charles and Camilla met at a polo match (where else?) in 1970 and immediately connected—but the early days of their relationship is honestly a huge saga involving a love square, so read all about it over here. Point is, they didn’t get together for a looooong time, and Charles went on to date a lot of other women.
Amanda Knatchbull
Amanda is the granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten, Charles’s godfather, to whom he was incredibly close. Apparently, Mountbatten reaaaaally wanted Charles and Amanda to marry, and they dated on and off from 1974 to 1979. And Charles actually did propose! But according to the book, Amanda “refused him” due to being “unwilling to step onto the royal treadmill.” I mean, fair.
Lady Jane Wellesley
Lady Jane was the Duke of Wellington’s daughter, and apparently she and Charles vaguely dated but it ended up being more of a “just friends” vibe.
Georgiana Russell
No info on their relationship (and no pictures!) except Bradford writes that Georgiana “got fed up with standing in cold Scottish rivers and married someone else.”
Sabrina Guinness
Also not a lot of info about their relationship, but apparently they had one!
Davina Sheffield
Allegedly, Davina and Charles “seemed set for marriage,” and she was even invited to lunch with the Queen. Buuuuut then one of her former boyfriends apparently told the press they’d lived together and the whole thing was called off because “Charles could not afford to marry anyone who could create any kind of scandal.”
Lady Leonora Grosvenor
The royals wanted Charles to marry Lady Leonora, but she married the Queen’s cousin instead, womp (that’s them at their wedding^).
Anna Wallace
Charles and Anna met on the hunting field (hot!), and she also got pretty close to the royals, scoring a coveted lunch with the Queen. But Anna ended things after getting into an argument with Charles at the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday and again at a polo ball (to be fair, Charles was ignoring her to hang with Camilla).
Jane Ward
A short relationship but a well-documented one!
Sarah Spencer
Yep, Charles dated Princess Diana’s older sister Lady Sarah Spencer in 1977, but she just wasn’t that into him. As she told a magazine, “I’m not in love with Prince Charles. I’m a whirlwind sort of lady as opposed to a person who goes in for slow-developing courtships. I can assure you that if there was to be any engagement between Prince Charles and myself, then it would have happened by now. I wouldn’t marry anyone I didn’t love, whether it was the dustman or the King of England.”
Princess Diana
We have a whole breakdown of exactly how Diana met Charles over here, but it went down in November 1977 when Charles was visiting the Spencer family home in Althorp for a pheasant shoot. They reconnected in 1979 after the death of Lord Mountbatten, and the rest is (not that great) history.
And that’s that! You officially know more about King Charles’s dating history than you ever hoped.
