Charles, Prince of Wales to remain on a pedestal after marriage. Charles's girlfriends included Georgiana Russell, the daughter of the British Ambassador to Spain; Lady Jane Wellesley, the daughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington; Davina Sheffield; Lady Sarah Spencer; and Camilla Shand, who later became his second wife and Duchess of Cornwall. Early in 1974, Mountbatten began corresponding with Charles about a potential marriage to Amanda Knatchbull, who was Mountbatten's granddaughter. Charles wrote to Amanda's mother—Lady Brabourne, who was also his godmother—expressing interest in her daughter, to which she replied approvingly, though she suggested that a courtship with the not yet 17-year-old girl
State visit of the President of Ireland to the United Kingdom Aide-de-camp, Colonel Brendan McAndrew. The President spent the night at the Kensington Hotel, in South Kensington. The formal State Visit began the following morning when the President and Foreign Minister met Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at the Irish Embassy. The Irish and British parties then travelled together in royal limousines to the Royal Dais on Datchet Road, Windsor, where the town was decked with Tricolours and Union Flags and a formal ceremony of welcome was conducted by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Afterwards, the royal party and visitors departed in horse-drawn carriages