It pains me even to fill this space writing about it, but a good rant is therapeutic, so I will anyway.

Throughout the whole affair, sorry, business, at the back of my mind has been poor old Edward VIII.

Forced to abdicate because of his relationship with American divorcee Wallis Simpson, his story melted the hearts of many a housewife, even if at the time it was, on the surface, all very scandalous.

Regardless of all the information on the subject that has surfaced since, it is still one of the most romantic of royal stories. What could be more heart-warming than the tale of a man so in love with a woman that he would give up the throne for her?

"I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love."

Swoon.

Then, 70 years later, along comes Charles, and in one fell swoop, undermines everything Great-Uncle Edward ever stood for.

The world may have changed, but, let’s face it, it’s not usually the royal family’s job to reflect what goes on in the real world. If that were the case the whole lot would have been out of a job years ago.

King Edward understood, or was made to understand, that he was threatening the integrity of his position, and his ties with the empire. He saw that he was at risk of weakening the monarchy and, ultimately, he made a sacrifice for the good of his family and his country.

If the situation surrounding the abdication wasn’t exactly noble, then the act itself was. Despite all the scandal, he redeemed himself by accepting what he had done and taking the conseqences. In the end, all he had done was fall in love, and no one could blame him for that.

And in 2005, surely no one, republican or royalist, can blame Charles for falling in love with Camilla.

What he is to blame for is not having the guts or courage to admit it at the time, thus saving a whole lot of people a whole lot of grief.

It would have been difficult, yes. Messy, yes. And he would have got a row from his mummy, yes. But he’s hardly covering himself in glory now, is he?

Charles is a man who clearly likes to have his cake and eat it.

He believed it was perfectly all right to have a wife and a mistress. A family at home and a life elsewhere.

And now, divorced, he wants to marry his divorcee mistress and still become King, whatever the rule book says.

No doubt he’ll get his way. If his mother is anything like her mother, he’ll have a good few years yet before he finds himself in the hotseat.

And by then, this sorry saga will be a distant memory. Camilla will become Queen by stealth and poor old Great-Uncle Edward will be turning in his grave, wondering what happened to nobility and responsibility and doing the right thing.

Perhaps he’ll also be wondering, like most people, just why Charles is so keen to become King in the first place. He doesn’t even seem to like being a prince very much.

He hates being in the spotlight, as his little rattle-from-the-pram incident in Klosters showed. We are left in no doubt that he hates the media and everything they stand for.

Well, Chic, here’s the news, it’s only gonna get worse.

Okay, so the media don’t leave him alone much. In fact they treat him as if he was one of those celebs who appears on the front of those gossip mags every week.

Perhaps that’s because he behaves like one of those celebs who appears on the front of those gossip mags every week.

You live by the sword, you die by the sword, and if he doesn’t like it, then now is the time to state his intention to fill in the old instrument of abdication when the time comes and emigrate, just like Great-Uncle Edward.

We can but dream.

One final thought. Tomorrow, when Camilla is getting ready to wed the love of her life, I hope she spares a thought for the six wives of that other infamous monarch who started fiddling with the rule book just so he could walk down the aisle.