Charles Spencer: Prince Philip wouldn’t allow Prince Charles to get his ears fixed

I have to make a horrible confession. As I’ve been using and reusing old photos of Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles, I keep getting caught off-guard by the fact that Charles really wasn’t bad-looking when he was younger. The way people used to go on and on about his looks, you would think that he was a gargoyle. He was not! He just had big ears and a terrible hairstyle. Obviously, the conversation about his looks was made so much worse when he married such a stunningly beautiful woman in his first marriage. Diana would have made anyone look like a gargoyle compared to her, but Charles’ terrible personality made him even uglier in that period. Well, within the Earl Spencer’s Swan Song, Spencer shared a story about how then-Prince Charles always wanted to get his ears fixed but his father, Prince Philip, always refused.

Earl Charles Spencer included a bizarre anecdote in his new book about the late Queen Elizabeth II “contemplating the possibility of having Prince Charles’s ears pinned back a little by a doctor”. The book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, hit bookshelves today, after weeks of serialisation in the media.

One previously unread section alleged that Diana told her younger brother about the late Queen’s reported contemplation about surgically altering King Charles’s ears.

Earl Spencer wrote: “Another of Diana’s revelations I found even stranger. Apparently, Prince Philip had learnt that the Queen was contemplating the possibility of having Prince Charles’s ears pinned back a little by a doctor; their protrusion had led to him being teased at school and mocked in the media. Philip not only stopped the medical procedure from being considered further, but he also had one of the Queen’s corgis’ ears operated on. This was to serve as some sort of lasting reminder of a plan that Prince Philip had decided was ridiculous for its softness and vanity.”

“While I have no idea if these disturbing tales were true, Diana believed them. They evidently made her feel both desperately sad for, and fiercely protective of, Prince Charles, even though he was a dozen years her senior.”

[From GB News]

Yeah, one of the saddest parts about Diana and Charles’ shambolic marriage is that she *genuinely* adored him and she also felt sorry for him. Initially, she thought he was a wounded bird, in need of her tenderness. Given Charles’ deep well of self-pity and self-regard, Diana’s sympathy and adoration would have been great for their marriage. If only she wasn’t such a star, if only she wasn’t so beautiful and charismatic. Luckily, Charles’ second wife also came with sympathy and adoration, but no beauty, charm or charisma. As for the ear thing… it’s a well-known piece of gossip, sort of – I’ve heard versions of “QEII was open to fixing Charles’ ears but Philip said no.” I’ve never heard the corgi part though.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.