WHATEVER LOVE MEANS

28 December, 2005 by The_Boss

ITV1 Wednesday 28 December 9:00 PM to 10:30 PM

Thirty four years after they first fell in love, the early years of Prince Charles and Camilla’s love story is explored in a new production for ITV1.

Whatever Love Means is a dramatisation of Charles and Camilla’s passionate relationship prior to his marriage to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

The role of Charles is played by Laurence Fox, most recently seen in Colditz and Island At War for ITV1, while Olivia Poulet plays the part of Camilla. Olivia’s credits include The Rotters Club. Richard Johnson takes the role of Earl Mountbatten, and Michelle Duncan is Lady Diana Spencer.

Whatever Love Means tells the story of a gauche, unconfident, deeply unhappy young man who falls in love with a confident, easygoing, sexually more experienced young woman, and finds in her all the warmth and love he never got from his parents. His obsession with her continues through her marriage, the birth of her two children, and during his own affairs with various younger, often more attractive women. What makes the story extraordinary - and extraordinarily poignant - is that the young man knows that one day he will be King, and because of that he’ll never be able to marry the woman he loves. Unless, of course, he does the unthinkable…

The film spans the 1970s, revealing the tight knit circle of royals and the protocol that shaped our future monarch’s private life. We take in his awkward first meeting with the irreverent Camilla, discussing the origins of Polo. Whilst Prince Charles is instantly attracted to her, she refuses to sign her privacy away by becoming Queen. Not that he could marry anyone who’s virginity was so implausible anyway.

A distraught Charles embarks on a lonely stint at sea from where he hears of Camilla’s marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles (Simon Wilson). His response is to ignore his romantic instincts and embark upon countless catastrophic flings, at the behest of his ‘Uncle Dickie’ - Earl Mountbatten– to sow his wild oats.

His reluctance to marry for anything other than love is severely tested by the pressure of his father and Uncle. He’s haunted by the example of that other Prince of Wales – his great-uncle, the Duke of Windsor – who also fell in love with a married woman. Sometimes he’s so desperate that he even considers following his example…

He remains close to Camilla but not as close as he would like. Then disaster strikes in the form of an IRA bomb. His ally, his mentor, and dear friend Uncle Dickie is killed leaving Charles completely distraught. Only one person can get him through this toughest of times. Camilla is there for him as ever. Indeed now she promises to help in his most urgent quest; to find a wife and produce a royal sprog or two.

However an increasingly flagrant affair with Camilla has the unsurprising effect of dashing the chances and interests of many possible candidates. Then he meets the young and desperately shy Diana Spencer. Her innocence and compassion impresses Charles – could this be the one for him? ‘No trouble there’ reports his match-maker. Camilla even takes her to Polo to vet her and make sure the competition is as mousey as she appears. But after plucking up the courage to propose, and with the big day approaching, the inevitable cracks in this most unlikely of partnerships shows – and Diana learns to her horror that her Prince Charming has already given his heart to another. Of course Charles finally - and very reluctantly – decides to put duty before love and marry Diana in 1981.

But where did that leave the true romance – of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles?