For decades, every detail of Prince Charles’ affair with now wife Camilla Parker Bowles was splashed across the media. But little is known about the Prince of Wales’ secret Australian mistress, Kanga Tryon, who died just months after his first wife, Princess Diana, in alarmingly mysterious circumstances.
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Now, New Idea can exclusively reveal the story of the Aussie woman, once described as “the only woman who ever understood” Charles, who became the focus of an alleged attempted murder cover-up.
Born 1948 in Melbourne, Dale Harper relocated to London in 1972 and within weeks had met her future husband, Anthony Tryon, 3rd Baron Tryon.
As Baroness Tryon, the Aussie native was thrust into the world of the British aristocracy, where she was quickly introduced to Prince Charles – who happened to be good friends with her husband.
Instantly taken by her fun-loving personality and her girl-next-door good looks, Charles became smitten with Kanga, as he nicknamed her.
Although Charles had yet to meet Diana then, he was already enjoying a flirtatious relationship with Camilla, who was married to Andrew Parker Bowles. But once Kanga entered Charles’ radar, the two women entered a tug-of-war for the future king’s affection. It was the “first time Camilla has a serious rival”, according to 2008 documentary Prince Charles’ Other Mistress.
The documentary details the bizarre circumstances surrounding the love triangle. When either of the married women became pregnant, the other would be favoured by Charles. And when Camilla and Kanga gave birth, both women honoured Charles by naming their sons after him. In fact, the prince even became godfather to both his mistresses’ boys.
The Daily Mail reports both women knew about each other and had a ‘pathological’ hatred of one another. Unperturbed,
a then single Prince Charles “happily bounced from the bed of Camilla to that of Lady Tryon, then back again”, before meeting his first wife, Lady Diana.
However, Kanga’s alleged indiscretions soon saw her fall out of favour with Charles and the British royal family. She is reported to have let slip information about her dalliances with Charles whenever she wanted to drum up publicity for her ‘Kanga’ fashion line.
In 1985 when Princess Diana – whose four-year marriage to Charles was already floundering – wore one of Kanga’s designs, the rivalry between Kanga and Camilla peaked. While it would be Camilla who eventually won Charles’ heart after Kanga’s life took a tragic downturn, her welcome into the royal family had a rocky start. And still today Camilla faces challenges. A royal insider revealed Camilla recently confessed to having secret meetings with Diana during the lowest points in her marriage to Charles, news that has shaken the family to its core.
But while Charles and Camilla’s marriage has survived, sadly, Kanga’s marriage to Baron Tryon crumbled, before her health deteriorated with the re-occurrence of a childhood disease followed by a uterine cancer diagnosis.
After winning her battle with cancer, Kanga checked herself into Farm Place rehab clinic in 1996 to tackle her dependency on painkillers – a result of her cancer treatment. But in a terrifying twist, during her time at the clinic she fell from a high window, shattering her spine, and was never to walk again. Although it’s been suggested Kanga jumped, claims were made in British documentary High Society that she was pushed.
Just weeks later, Kanga learned her husband was filing for divorce and she was detained, then sectioned under the Mental Health Act, with friends stating she had started fantasising that someone was trying to kill her.
After recovering from the trauma, she went on a trip to Australia and India. On returning to the UK she was admitted to hospital but contracted septicaemia and died, shortly before her 50th birthday and just months after Diana was killed.
While her family and ex-husband have denied allegations she was pushed, her death remains one of the most tragic events to this day surrounding the British royal family.
For more, see this week’s New Idea, out now!
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