SPLASHING through the breakers on an Australian beach, Prince Charles was ambushed by a stunning bikini-clad model who promptly planted a kiss on his cheek.
The young woman, Jane Priest, would later tell how an awkward Charles — obeying royal protocol — did not reply, “Pleased to meet you” but “Oh, I can’t touch you”.
It was 1979 and Charles, then 30, was described by Fleet Street scribes as the “world’s most eligible bachelor”.
The picture caused a sensation across continents and was a glimpse of the excitement that would be generated when he finally chose the woman he would marry.
It later emerged that Jane Priest’s stolen kiss was a put-up job by a newspaper.
Yet the clamour — from his family and public opinion — for him to finally settle down was reaching fever pitch.
In the 1970s, protocol dictated that for an heir to the throne, a suitable bride meant either a foreign princess or the daughter of a senior British aristocrat.
But Charles had long heeded the advice of his mentor, great-uncle and godfather, the last Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten.
Mountbatten counselled on Valentine’s Day 1974 when Charles was 25: “In a case like yours, the man should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can before settling down.
“But for a wife he should choose a suitable, attractive and sweet-charactered girl before she has met anyone else she might fall for.
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