For many years, Camilla Parker-Bowles (née Shand) was painted because the intrusive third party within the romance between Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. With the arrival of The Crown season 3, that narrative was re-examined. Showrunner Peter Morgan told Entertainment Weekly, “People all the time assume Charles cheated on Diana with Camilla. It’s absolutely the incorrect way round. He was deeply in love with Camilla and compelled to marry Diana.”
The couple’s against-all-odds relationship continues to play a task in The Crown because the show progresses. Within the fourth season, released in 2020, after Camilla is married off to longtime beau Andrew Parker-Bowles, Charles is inspired to seek out a wife who will follow the principles. Enter Diana, who matches the bill of a perfect Princess of Wales at first glance. But, as royal enthusiasts know all too well, Charles’s undying love for Camilla causes his arranged marriage to crumble.
While that chapter of The Crown doesn’t forged one of the best light on Charles and Camilla, she reportedly planned to look at the season. A source told Vanity Fair royal reporter Katie Nicholl that Camilla watched pervious seasons of the Netflix show and would likely see season 4. “I imagine she’ll be tuning in with a glass of red wine to look at it, she has seen the previous series,” a friend of the Duchess told Nicholl. “She has a beautiful humorousness and this won’t fuss her within the slightest.”
Now, in season 5, The Crown continues to deal with Charles and Camilla’s developing romance because the prince’s marriage to Princess Diana unravels. But that also includes the pitfalls, like Diana’s explosive interview saying “there have been three of us on this marriage” and the infamous “Camillagate” leaked phone call. Of their performances, the forged showed empathy to the real-life royals they portray.
“We each felt that we desired to do right by our characters,” Dominic West, who plays Charles this season, told Entertainment Weekly. “We felt the chances were barely stacked against their relationship and we desired to try and produce it across in as sympathetic a lightweight as we could.”
As Charles (West) and Camilla’s (Olivia Williams) forbidden love story and triangle with Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) unfolds on the Netflix series, relive the royals’ real-life romance below.
1970 or ’71
There are several conflicting reports about how Charles and Camilla met, historian and The Crown advisor Robert Lacey writes in The Crown: The Official Companion Volume 2. Charles swears they met through their friend (and his ex), Lucia Santa Cruz, and Cruz corroborated this in later interviews. Historian Sally Bedell Smith, writer of Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, also confirms this, telling ELLE.com, “Charles fell immediately in love, and Camilla, who had been dating Andrew Parker Bowles on and off for six years, was ready for some fun with the Prince of Wales.”
Nevertheless, other reports state Charles and Camilla met within the early ’70s at a polo match in Windsor Great Park, while People reported in 1992 that the couple met at a celebration in 1972 where Camilla’s opening line to Charles was allegedly, “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have now something in common.” (Camilla references this fact in The Crown’s third and fourth seasons.)
In The Crown’s season 3, the couple’s meeting is not shown. What’s depicted is how their bond formed via private meetings and calls. Royal biographer Penny Junor chronicles Charles’ infatuation in The Duchess: The Untold Story: “He loved the proven fact that she smiled together with her eyes in addition to her mouth, and laughed at the identical silly things as he did. In brief, he was very taken together with her, and after that first meeting he began ringing her up.” It is vital to notice that although Camilla was from an upper-class background, she wasn’t aristocratic, making her a lower than suitable partner for Charles within the eyes of the monarchy. Moreover, Camilla had a status for dating plenty of men, and Patricia Mountbatten, daughter of Lord Mountbatten (“Uncle Dickie”), told Smith, “you didn’t desire a past that hung about.”
A young Prince Charles and Camilla Shand at a Windsor Great Park polo match in 1975.
Hulton Deutsch//Getty Images
1972
Camilla and Charles spent plenty of time together this yr, in accordance with Lacey, going to Annabel’s nightclub in London’s Berkeley Square together and visiting Camilla’s family in Sussex on the weekends. The 2 also stayed at Lord Mountbatten’s Hampshire estate, Broadlands, when the prince trained for the Royal Navy at Portsmouth. Uncle Dickie was very keen on Camilla and thought she could be an appropriate mistress for Charles.
Nevertheless, Lacey cites biographer Sarah Bradford, who reports that when Mountbatten realized how serious Charles was with Camilla, he arranged for Charles to be assigned to the West Indies for an eight-month period, as shown within the ninth episode of The Crown season 3. (The Queen Mother was likely not involved within the scheming.) People reported in that 1992 piece, “Although the smitten prince courted her for six months, he didn’t propose before returning to sea in February 1973.” Lacey cites Caroline Graham’s Camilla and Charles, which quotes Camilla as telling a friend in 1972, “I like Charles very much but I simply cannot ignore Andrew…I feel of him on a regular basis. Is it possible to like two men at the identical time?”
1973
On July 4, Camilla married British Army captain Andrew Parker Bowles, a former boyfriend who was previously linked to Princess Anne. Camilla and Andrew would go on to have two children together, son Tom in 1974 and daughter Laura in 1978. Charles is even Tom’s godfather.
Camilla and Andrew at their July 1973 wedding.
Frank Barratt//Getty Images
Junor writes in her book that Camilla’s marriage only intensified Charles’ eager for her. “It was only when she was irretrievably gone that the Prince realized what he had lost,” she wrote in The Duchess: The Untold Story.
1975
Charles and Camilla’s friendship continued after her marriage, they usually were photographed together at a polo match this yr.
1977
Then-Diana Spencer entered the image. In one other twisted relationship web, Charles first met a 16-year-old Diana while he was courting her sister, Lady Sarah. Sarah not only approved of the connection between her former beau and Diana, but is quoted saying, “I introduced them. I’m Cupid.”
Prince Charles and Diana on their honeymoon in Scotland in 1981.
Hulton Archive//Getty Images
Diana would later describe her meet-cute with Charles in a 1981 post-engagement interview: “It was 1977, Charles got here to remain. He was a friend of my sister Sarah’s. [He came] for a [hunting] shoot. We type of met in a plowed field.”
In The Crown’s fourth season, this meeting is fictionalized, involving Diana wearing a fancy dress for a college production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shortly after Charles meets Diana, he’s shown calling Sarah and asking for her sister’s contact information. After a hunting weekend at Balmoral, Charles calls Camilla to inform her that Diana was “a triumph.” He goes on to say that Prince Philip “made the family position painfully clear. They need me to marry her.” Camilla responds, “The fitting one was all the time going to return along.”
Camilla and Charles spotted together in 1979.
Tim Graham//Getty Images
In real life, Camilla was a component of Charles’s life during this time, appearing by his side at a polo match in 1979. “Curiously, and with an ominousness that was to grow to be clear only years later, Andrew and Camilla Parker Bowles were present at most of Charles and Diana’s courtship venues—Sandringham, Balmoral, Windsor, on the homes of friends,” The Telegraph reported in 2005.
1980
Diana became an acquaintance of Camilla’s (in public, anyway). They were photographed together attending the Ludlow Races, where Charles was competing. The 1992 People article reported that Camilla even served because the Prince’s escort on an official visit to Zimbabwe. Her husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, was stationed there on the time.
Diana and Camilla attending the 1980 Ludlow Races.
Express Newspapers//Getty Images
1981
Diana and Charles announced their engagement on February 24 (there are reports he popped the query in Andrew and Camilla’s garden, but he actually proposed within the Windsor Castle nursery) they usually were married on July 29 in a ceremony watched by 750 million people.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana leaving their 1981 wedding via carriage.
Anwar Hussein//Getty Images
Nevertheless, prior to the televised fairytale, Charles made a memorable comment during an interview wherein he was asked if he and Diana were in love. After Diana replied, “After all,” Charles added, “Whatever ‘in love’ means.”
This content is imported from youTube. You could have the ability to seek out the identical content in one other format, or chances are you’ll have the ability to seek out more information, at their web page.
Charles & Diana – “Whatever In Love Means”
Watch on
The Guardian describes Diana as “intensely jealous” of Charles and Camilla’s friendship at the moment. In line with royal biographer Andrew Morton, with whom Diana spoke in 1991, she scanned the room for Camilla at her wedding. “I knew she was in there, in fact. I searched for her,” Diana told Morton. “So walking down the aisle, I spotted Camilla, pale gray, veiled pillbox hat.” Morton also wrote that while opening wedding gifts, Diana allegedly found an engraved necklace intended for Camilla. Charles’ response was that “a certain quantity of time would all the time be put aside for Camilla.” Biographer Catherine Mayer confirmed this account in Charles: The Heart of a King: “curled venomously amongst a pile of wedding presents and cards, Diana had discovered a bracelet bearing the initials ‘GF,’ intended for Camilla.” In line with The Mirror, Diana situated the offending jewelry within the office of Charles’s private secretary, Michael Colborne.
An almost an identical occurrence plays out on The Crown. Days before Charles and Diana’s wedding, she finds sketches of a bracelet engraved with the letters “F” and “G.” Those initials stand for Charles and Camilla’s pet names for each other—Fred and Gladys.
Charles and Diana go on to have two children: Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984.
1986
In line with People, Camilla and Charles officially began their affair during this time. That is the yr after Diana gifted him with a public performance of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” on the Royal Opera House. (In The Crown, that evening ends with a significant fight and Charles heading to Gloucestershire for a gathering with Camilla.)
This performance actually happened, although it isn’t totally confirmed that Charles’s response was as severe because it is in The Crown.
This content is imported from youTube. You could have the ability to seek out the identical content in one other format, or chances are you’ll have the ability to seek out more information, at their web page.
Dancing with Diana: Princess wowed audience in surprise appearance
Watch on
1988
As seen on The Crown season 4, Charles is involved in an avalanche accident on a ski trip in Switzerland this yr. His friend, Major Hugh Lindsay, is killed. Around this time, rumors abound regarding tension in Charles and Diana’s marriage, including speculation about Lady Di’s infidelity. As reported by TIME, Diana was linked to several suitors from 1986 until the top of her marriage. On the time, rumors a few romance with James Hewitt made the rounds, as depicted within the fourth season. (Diana later admits to the Hewitt affair in a 1995 interview with BBC One’s Panorama, explored further below.)
1992
In June, Andrew Morton’s book Diana: Her True Story was released. It included several stories about Diana’s jealousy of the connection between Charles and Camilla. In a single interview Morton used for the book, Diana admits to confronting Camilla at a 1989 party. “I do know what is going on on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that. She said to me: ‘You have every part you ever wanted. You have all the boys on the planet fall in love with you and you have two beautiful children, what more do you wish?’ So I said, ‘I need my husband.'”
That 1992 People article also speculates about Charles’ position in the road of succession if he divorced Diana. Because the secular head of the Church of England, People writes, he would likely not have the ability to remarry, because the church prohibits it.
In November, tapes of intimate phone conversations between Charles and Camilla were released in a scandal known as Camillagate. “I need to feel my way along you, throughout you and up and down you and out and in…” Charles is heard saying in the express recordings. The 1989 tapes confirmed the character of the his relationship with Camilla. A month later, Prime Minister John Major announced Charles and Diana’s separation.
Diana and Charles on their last official trip together, during a presidential banquet in Seoul, South Korea.
Tim Graham//Getty Images
1994
Prince Charles permitted a TV documentary to be made about him, and it aired in June. When asked within the documentary if he had been “faithful and honorable” during his marriage to Diana, he responded, “Yes, yes…until it became irretrievably broken down, us each having tried,” per The Latest York Times. When asked about Camilla he replied, “She has been a friend for a really very long time—and can proceed to be a friend for a really very long time.”
This content is imported from youTube. You could have the ability to seek out the identical content in one other format, or chances are you’ll have the ability to seek out more information, at their web page.
Prince Charles: his children, the paparazzi & marriage to Diana
Watch on
1995
Camilla officially filed for divorce from Andrew Parker-Bowles in January, after the 2 reportedly lived apart for 2 years.
Diana gave an unprecedented interview to BBC One’s Panorama in November. She admitted to her own infidelity together with her former riding instructor James Hewitt. She also famously spoke about Charles and Camilla’s affair, saying, “There have been three of us on this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” This moment is directly foreshadowed in The Crown’s third season, when Princess Anne warns Charles that if he marries Camilla there might be “three people in the wedding,” including Andrew.
This content is imported from youTube. You could have the ability to seek out the identical content in one other format, or chances are you’ll have the ability to seek out more information, at their web page.
Princess Diana amazing words about Camilla
Watch on
Public perception of the royal family was impacted during this time and led to a shakeup at Buckingham Palace. The Latest York Times reported that inside a month of Diana’s interview, her press secretary resigned. She also skipped Christmas 1995 at Sandringham. Shortly after, the queen sent Charles and Diana a letter letting them know that a speedy divorce was desirable.
1996
The couple finalized their divorce in August.
1997
Diana tragically died on August 31 at age 36 after a automotive accident in Paris. The collision also ended the lives of her better half, businessman Dodi Fayed, and the driving force, Henri Paul.
Princess Diana’s coffin leaving westminster abbey after the september 6, 1997 funeral.
GERRY PENNY//Getty Images
1998
Royal aides confirmed a report from The Guardian that Prince William had met Camilla in 1998 and that Harry would meet her at a later date. “A transparent campaign to ‘introduce’ Mrs. Parker Bowles to public life began after Charles’s divorce. However it was abandoned following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, last yr,” the publication claimed.
1999
And so the campaign began. In January, Charles and Camilla made their public debut as a pair. The Prince of Wales threw a fiftieth celebration for Camilla’s sister on the Ritz Hotel in London. Although the couple arrived individually, they were photographed leaving the event together.
Camilla and Charles leaving the Ritz Hotel after the fiftieth celebration for her sister.
Tim Graham//Getty Images
Other outings got here in May and November, because the couple began attending theater and social functions together.
The brand new couple leaving the Royal Festival Hall after a performance of Hidden Perspectives in 1999.
Dave Benett//Getty Images
Charles and Camilla exiting the West End’s albery theatre after a performance of
Andrew Stuart – PA Images//Getty Images
2000
Per the BBC, Queen Elizabeth refused to satisfy with Camilla for years, but that every one modified with one other celebration. The monarch attended a sixtieth birthday celebration for the King of Greece at Charles’s residence, Highgrove. For the reason that queen knew that Camilla would even be there, the meeting was taken as a public seal of approval for the connection.
John Shelley Collection/Avalon//Getty Images
2001
Nearly 30 years after first meeting, Charles and Camilla share their first public kiss at an event for The National Osteoporosis Society at Somerset House in London. It was a noteworthy moment for 2 reasons: First, the open PDA. Second, Charles showed as much as support Camilla in her role because the organization’s patron. Before then, Camilla had only been seen accompanying Charles at his engagements.
The couple sharing a kiss on the National Osteoporosis Society event.
Tim Graham//Getty Images
2003
Next, the couple moved into Clarence House, Charles’s longtime residence. The royal family publicly declared that no British tax dollars could be utilized in any of Camilla’s renovations or decorations.
Sharing amusing throughout the Highland Games in Scotland in 2003.
Mark Cuthbert//Getty Images
2005
Charles and Camilla announced their engagement in February 2005.
Attending a celebration at Windsor Castle to rejoice the announcement of their engagement.
Pool/Tim Graham Picture Library//Getty Images
On April 9, when Charles was 56 and Camilla 57, the couple married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. Prince William served as best man, while Camilla’s ex Andrew and his second wife Rosemary attended. Not in attendance? The Queen and Prince Phillip, who forewent the ceremony for the reception and official blessing at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall on their wedding day.
Anwar Hussein Collection//Getty Images
2007
People reported that although Camilla had been invited by Prince William and Prince Harry to a memorial service for Diana, she wouldn’t go. The event marked the ten-year anniversary of the Princess of Wales’ death. In an announcement, the Duchess of Cornwall said: “I accepted and desired to support them, nonetheless, on reflection I think my attendance could divert attention from the aim of the occasion which is to deal with the life and repair of Diana. I’m grateful to my husband, William, and Harry for supporting my decision.”
Arriving on the Ascot racecourse in Berkshire.
Gareth Cattermole//Getty Images
2010
When Camilla married Charles in 2005, it was decided that to ensure that Diana to stay the only real Princess of Wales, Camilla would receive the title Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall.
Nevertheless, in an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, when asked, “Does the Duchess of Cornwall grow to be Queen of England if and whenever you grow to be the monarch?” the Prince answered, “That is well…we’ll see won’t we? That might be.”
Visiting St. Michael’s mount in marazion.
Chris Jackson//Getty Images
2011
Charles and Camilla attended William’s wedding to Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey.
Arriving at Kate and William’s wedding at westminster abbey.
Pascal Le Segretain//Getty Images
2012
Queen Elizabeth offered Camilla more official approval, naming her Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. Later that yr, Camilla sat alongside the queen during a celebration of her Diamond Jubilee.
Camilla and Queen Elizabeth throughout the Queen’s diamond jubilee.
WPA Pool//Getty Images
2015
This yr marked Charles and Camilla’s tenth wedding anniversary. Clarence House released a photograph of the couple on the Balmoral estate in Scotland, the locale for his or her honeymoon, to mark the occasion.
In an interview with CNN, Charles confirmed that he and Camilla were stronger than ever. “It is usually marvelous to have any person who, you understand, you’re feeling understands and desires to encourage,” he said about his wife. “Although she definitely pokes fun if I get too serious about things. And all that helps.”
The couple touring the Orokonui Ecosanctuary in Latest Zealand in 2015.
Rob Jefferies//Getty Images
2016
On June 9, Camilla and Prince William were added to the Privy Council, a bunch of the Queen’s most senior advisors. This was widely believed to be sure that each shall be present when Charles is crowned king after the queen’s death.
Charles and Camilla on a visit to Croatia.
Chris Jackson//Getty Images
2017
In honor of her seventieth birthday, Camilla spoke to The Mail on Sunday about her life. She discussed the early press attention surrounding her romance with Charles: “It was horrid. It was a deeply unpleasant time and I wouldn’t need to put my worst enemy through it,” she said. “I couldn’t have survived it without my family.”
2018
The couple attended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding at Windsor Castle, where Charles walked the bride down the aisle.
Charles and Camilla, alongside Meghan Markle’s mother doria ragland, on the steps of windsor castle after harry and meghan’s wedding.
WPA Pool//Getty Images
2019
In 2019, the couple sipped mojitos while visiting Havana, Cuba—the primary time members of the royal family had visited the country in an official capability.
Chris Jackson//Getty Images
2020
As of 2020, the pair has been married for 15 years, after first locking eyes within the early ’70s.
This content is imported from youTube. You could have the ability to seek out the identical content in one other format, or chances are you’ll have the ability to seek out more information, at their web page.
Ahead of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall’s fifteenth wedding anniversary tomorrow, we’re sharing this photo of Their Royal Highnesses with The Duchess’s dogs Bluebell and Beth.
The photo was taken earlier today at Birkhall. pic.twitter.com/0Xw1nxySpu
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) April 8, 2020
They commemorated the milestone by sharing a photograph with their dogs, recreating their engagement photos from 2005.
2022
Following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September, Charles ascended the throne as King Charles III. This also made Camilla the Queen Consort. Charles’ official coronation will happen on May 6, 2023.
During his declaration to the Accession Council, King Charles made a sweet shout-out to Queen Camilla while acknowledging his recent responsibilities as sovereign: “In all this, I’m profoundly encouraged by the constant support of my beloved wife.”
King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort hear addresses by each houses of Parliament in September 2022.
Dan Kitwood//Getty Images
Savannah Walsh is an Editorial Fellow at ELLE.com.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There’s a 75 percent likelihood she’s listening to Lorde immediately.
