It is no secret that before his marriage to Diana, King Charles was known for his turbulent love life. Most of this love life was dominated by his deep affection for Camilla Parker Bowles — who was married to Andrew Parker Bowles at the time. The affair continued even when he was married to Diana, creating one of the most scandalous love triangles in royal history.
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Reportedly, Princess Diana also knew Charles' love for Camilla was ‘stronger than any marriage he might ever have made.’
Apart from Camilla, Charles' complicated love life featured another significant figure: Lady Dale Tryon, aka Kanga. There was apparently a time when Kanga was as important to the then-Prince Charles as Camilla.
Who is Lady Dale Tryon, and what was the story between her and King Charles?
In a report published by MailOnline in 2008, it was revealed that, like Camilla, Kanga was also married to a close friend of Charles — Lord Anthony Tryon. Born into a wealthy middle-class family in Melbourne, Australia, in 1948, Kanga moved to London in 1972. She married Lord Anthony Tryon and was eventually introduced to Charles.
Kanga — a nickname given to her by Charles himself — quickly charmed the Prince of Wales with her beauty and Australian informality. She won his affection at a time when he was already involved with Camilla. A Channel 4 documentary, High Society, claimed that Charles was going back and forth between Camilla and Lady Tryon, until he was married to Diana.
Clearly his bond with the two women were strong at the time as both Camilla and Kanga gave birth to sons, named them Charles (Camilla gave ‘Charles’ as a second name to her son), and made the King their godfather.
It is reported that Charles once labelled her as the ‘only woman who ever understood me.’
What happened to Lady Dale Tryon aka Kanga?
Kanga’s affair with Charles was ultimately overshadowed by his rekindled romance with Camilla and her life began to unravel in the 1990s. After years of juggling her public persona, her marriage, and her complicated relationship with Charles, her health started to deteriorate, reports Mirror.
Kanga suffered a recurrence of Perthes' disease, a condition she had battled as a child, and was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 1993. In 1996, she checked herself into a rehabilitation centre as she became addicted to painkillers given to her for her cancer treatment.
During her stay at the centre, she endured a tragic and mysterious fall from a high window that resulted in a shattered spine. The fall, which Kanga claimed happened because someone pushed her, paralysed her from the waist down.
In the aftermath of her fall, Kanga’s husband filed for divorce, and she was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. According to Daily Mail, she remained fixated on Charles and was last seen pursuing him in July 1997 at a polo match.
In November 1997, Kanga died from septicaemia. She died shortly after the death of Princess Diana.
Read more:
Queen Camilla's fortune before marrying King Charles, including a £500K inheritance
Princess Diana's confessions about marriage to King Charles set to be released in new memoir
Sources used:
Daily Mail: The lonely death of Charles's other mistress
Mirror: King Charles' 'forgotten mistress who died broken-hearted after he chose Camilla'
