Prince Charles' wife needed to be a 'virgin' says Queen's cousin who was shortlisted to be his bride

ITV is releasing a new documentary titled ‘The Queen and Her Cousins with Alexander Armstrong.’ This documentary reveals that one of the Queen’s cousins was a potential match for Prince Charles because of her virginity.

• A new ITV documentary delves into the lives of the Queen's less publicised cousins

• One of the Queen's cousins has revealed why she was considered as a potential match for the Queen's eldest son, Prince Charles

• In other Royal news, Prince William’s desk has this sentimental item on it

In the new ITV documentary, host Alexander Armstrong explores the lives of some of the lesser-known royals that have direct links to the Queen herself. One of the cousins, Princess Olga Romanoff, reveals that she was shortlisted as one of the potential brides for Prince Charles.

OK reported that Princess Olga revealed that she was lined up as a potential partner for the Prince of Wales. The Royal said, “I certainly was put in as a potential partner for Prince Charles. They did an article in Queen (now Harper’s Bazar) on the five foreign princesses that possibly could marry the Prince.”

The host asked what the criteria was to meet the shortlist. Olga replied, “A title, foreign, breeding and possibly because I was 17 - they were all very young - virginity was good.” The Princess went on to say, “God I was so virginal… so that sort of ticked the boxes!”

It is a longstanding tradition within the Royal family that the women married into Royalty should be virgins. 

Royal Historian, Thomas Mace-Archer-Mills, told Refinery 29, “The number one rule before the looks or the breeding of a potential royal spouse, was that she be a virgin first and foremost," he said. "This rule has always been strictly observed for women marrying senior royals - it was a condition of marriage."

He revealed that this is to ensure that any child that is born from their marriage is absolutely the next heir and not fathered by anyone else that she has slept with.  

Leslie Carrol, the author of Royal Affairs revealed why Princess Diana and Princess Olga were good marital options for the Prince of Wales. "Prince Charles had dated the love of his life, Camilla Shand, when they were in their early 20s, and she was no longer a virgin by the time Charles was finally ready to pop the question to anyone," she said. "So she was ineligible - 'damaged goods.'"

Princess Diana's 'purity' was highly publicised at the time. Her uncle, Lord Fermoy, went so far as to talk to The Daily Star to uphold her virginal status. “Purity seems to be at a premium when it comes to discussing a possible bride for Prince Charles at the moment... Diana, I can assure you, has never had a lover,” he revealed, according to Tina Brown's book The Diana Chronicles.  

During the interview with Princess Olga, she also revealed other interesting Royal secrets. The Princess said of Queen Mary, “She had kind of upmarket kleptomania because she would go stay in somebody’s house and she’d be sitting on one of a dozen Sheraton chairs and she’d say ‘Oo, I do like this chair,’ And you’d be obliged to give her all twelve.”

‘The Queen and Her Cousins with Alexander Armstrong,’ will air for one hour on Thursday 15th April 2021 at 9 pm on ITV.