Only she and her husband - one of Prince Charles's inner circle - knew the details of the family finances, or rather lack of them. But the truth is, Kanga was an astute businesswoman and understood that notoriety meant money. At such events, she would deliberately display a haughty demeanour - God forbid someone of her social standing should court publicity. There were other aristocrats' wives - many - who were never spotted in the company of the glitterati, but Kanga wasn't one of them. Back then, she played a shrewd game, appearing to hate the limelight, but all the while, it was secretly meat and drink to her. As a gossip columnist for a national newspaper, it was my job to tread the same red carpets and sample the same fine vintages that Kanga enjoyed on a nightly basis. But, these days, you don't hear her name mentioned anymore. The bare bones of her life - childhood spina bifida, youthful dalliances, and a swift engagement to an Old Etonian peer and banker, Lord Tryon - fill out the yellowing cuttings in newspaper archives. Homeless: Kanga in 1997, shortly before she died But no book has been written on the former Dale Harper, born in 1947, to a wealthy middleclass family in Melbourne, Australia. Until now.įor the first time, a Channel 4 documentary reveals the extraordinary bed-hopping antics of the heir to the throne in the years leading up to his marriage to Diana. Yet the story of how she came to love and lose her prince has never been fully told. Nobody ever quite understood how she fitted into the royal jigsaw.įor most people, the battle for Charles's heart was a straight playoff between two women - married Camilla, his one true love, and virginal Diana, a knee-jerk response to a nation baying for a royal bride.īut, for a time, Kanga was just as important to Charles as Camilla. When Kanga Tryon - once a household name and a central figure in the life of the Prince of Wales - died almost three months after Princess Diana, in 1997, she was quickly forgotten. The big hair, the luscious lips, and the constant partying have so faded in memory that they might never have existed. But the affair broke her heart and unhinged her mind. She was the Australian who married a peer and became a prince's lover. At the races: Kanga with Prince Charles at a polo match in 1987
0 kommentar(er)
