“It’s one of the great myths but figuratively she has been hit with many bread rolls.”Īfter the Princess’ death, Charles and Camilla faced their bleakest time their relationship was regularly erroneously blamed for Diana’s tragic demise. There was the apocryphal story that Camilla was pelted with bread rolls in a supermarket car park. Meanwhile “Diana was great at painting the picture of the damning Rottweiler, as she called Camilla”, says Junor. Nothing was more excruciating than the tabloid transcript in 1993 of the “Camillagate” taped late night conversation between Camilla and Charles. Those were dark days to negotiate for the couple. Charles stated in his authorised biography that he rekindled his relationship with Camilla in 1986. Diana was acutely aware that Charles was still said to be in love with Camilla, who was present at the wedding.ĭiana found a bracelet that Charles gave to Camilla, entwined with the letters G and F for their pet names, Gladys and Fred, on the eve of her wedding.Īfter the births of Princes William in 1982 and Harry in 1984, the royal marriage was increasingly unstable. Diana’s grandmother, the formidable Baroness Fermoy, a close confidante of the Queen Mother, pushed this dynastic match.Īs we know now, the wedding on July 29 watched by over 750 million people, was not the fairytale it purported to be. It wasn’t until 1980 that Charles met Diana Spencer, the young aristocratic daughter of Earl Spencer. Why didn’t Camilla wait for Charles? Perhaps she thought she was acting in his best interests by marrying someone else, aware that as future king, he would be required to marry a virgin. Prince Charles, privately heartbroken, remained friends with the couple, becoming godfather to their son, Tom. To his bitter regret, in 1973, while he was abroad, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles, an Army cavalry officer who had previously dated Princess Anne. They began a relationship which was punctured by Charles’s eight-month absence when he served in the Royal Navy. Indeed, they had much more in common - an earthy sense of humour, a love of horses, dogs and country pursuits. She joked about the fact that her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, had had an affair with King Edward VII, saying: “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. It is rumoured that Camilla kicked off conversation with Charles in typically robust style. Sixteen months older than Charles and the daughter of a British Army Officer, the aristocratic Camilla Shand first met the Prince of Wales when she was 23, at a polo match in Windsor Great Park in 1970. Perhaps the real tragedy is that Charles and Camilla did not marry the first time around. Charles never shies away from calling her his “darling” and will be a better King with her by his side. We can see from the couple’s tangible happiness together, whether carrying out public duties or being photographed with their dogs, Bluebell and Beth, that they are made for each other.
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