Americans still deeply love Princess Diana, says an ABC News expert.
Ahead of King Charles’ coronation on Saturday, ABC News’ Deborah Roberts gave her take on why many aren’t over the rocky relationship Charles, 74, had with Diana, who died in 1997 in a car crash.
The Emmy-winning Senior National Affairs Correspondent told Radio Times that people still “hold a grudge” against the monarch for how he treated Diana, according to the Mirror.
Charles infamously had a longtime affair with his now-Queen Consort Camilla while he was still married to the Princess of Wales.
Roberts, who is married to “Today” show host Al Roker, believes that Camilla, 75, “took Diana’s place next to the king on the throne.”
“Charles is a man who a lot of people associate with breaking Princess Diana’s heart, and Camilla is going to be referred to as Queen, not Queen Consort,” she went on. “[Charles] is austere and a little bit standoffish – his mother [Queen Elizabeth] was, too, but we didn’t have a lot of female heads of state around the world when she was ruling.”
Roberts also gave her thoughts on the royal family dynamic after Prince Harry revealed bombshells in his memoir, “Spare.”
“The royal family are just as messed up as any other family and we kind of like seeing that,” she said.
Roberts has covered royal events such as the Queen’s funeral last September, her Platinum Jubilee in June as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 wedding.
A poll was conducted recently and revealed that the majority of young Brits are “not interested” in the royal family and believe that Charles is “out of touch.”
The BBC enlisted the survey through YouGov to determine how the United Kingdom felt about the monarchy despite the family’s various scandals.
About 78% of adults — ranging from ages 18 to 24 — were very uninterested.
For adults ages 25 to 49 (64%), a little over half of Brits 50 to 64 (53%) and 42% of those 65 and older didn’t care about the coronation or the royal family.
More than half (54%) of British people think that the royals are “good value” for the money that citizens provide them.
Harry, 38, and Markle, 41, shook up the monarchy when they stepped back from royal duties and made the move to Montecito, Calif. in 2020.
While the Duke of Sussex will be attending his father’s crowning on May 6, his wife will not join him, as she will be staying home with the couple’s kids’ Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
A separate survey was commissioned by The Standard in January, which found that most Brits wanted Harry to appear at the enthronement.
Sixty percent of adults hoped that Harry would journey to the U.K., with 30 percent of people desiring that he stay home in California.