Despite divided public perception, the new king and queen seem to be meant to be. "Charles and Camilla are true soulmates — even Diana eventually came to the conclusion that they were made for each other," Andersen said.
According to several royal biographers and also The Crown, Charles wanted to marry Camilla but was steered away from her by the royal family, who didn't think she'd be a suitable wife largely thanks to the fact that she had a few ex-boyfriends and therefore was probably not a virgin.
Charles and Camilla eventually began seeing each other while still married to Diana and Parker Bowles, respectively. After their divorces, they took their relationship public, although it would be years before the romance earned the approval of the royal family. “It was horrid.
Another source close to the two explained to The Post that they do not share the same bed because of royal tradition. In many cases, this would have led to separation, but Charles and Camilla have proven that their relationship works equally well even in such situations.
Camilla may have been at Diana's wedding but she was not welcome at her funeral, which was watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people around the world. Still, to many her absence echoed around the ancient hall. The Queen made it clear to Charles that he could not take his paramour to the service.
Change of the wedding location and date
On 22 February, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen would not attend the wedding ceremony, but would attend the church blessing and host the reception afterwards. The reason stated by the palace was the couple wanted to keep the occasion low key.
Camilla Is Related to Both Diana and King Charles
Strangely, they are also both related to the late Princess Diana through shared ancestry dating back to King Charles II. Also note that Camilla's great-grandmother was a mistress to King Edward VII, the great-great-grandfather of King Charles.
“The queen didn't want Camilla around in the early days because their relationship was so damaging to the monarchy, but on a personal level, she has always liked Camilla,” Junor says. “They have a lot in common, particularly their love of dogs and horses.
It led to Andrew's actual proposal to Camilla; without it, Charles might have married Camilla, despite his family's objections. Instead, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, and Charles went on to date a number of “suitable” women until he met Diana Spencer in 1980.
As NBC royal commentator Daisy McAndrew puts it, a “queen consort is a woman who married a man who is king,” and a “queen is a woman who is born to be queen and is head of state — not the wife of a monarch.”
“Diana's death technically would free Charles to marry in the church, but his intended, Camilla Parker Bowles, is a divorcée whose first husband is still living,” the outlet further mentioned.
Charles and Camilla, who grew up in an aristocratic family, were first romantically linked during the 1970s but ended up marrying other people. Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 and Charles married Diana Spencer in 1981. Still, the pair remained close — Charles is even godfather to Camilla's son, Tom.
According to the BBC, Queen Elizabeth II refused to meet Camilla for a long time, despite Charles being serious about her. However, in 2000 she accepted an invitation to King Constantine of Greece's 60th birthday party, which was held at Charles's residence, Highgrove, and where Camilla was also present.
Lady Althorp then married Peter Shand Kydd on May 2, 1969. The Shand Kydds separated in June 1988 and later were divorced. There is no evidence of any connection between Camilla Parker Bowles and Princess Diana's stepfather, said Gillian Cooper at the British Consulate-General in Atlanta.
Diana's royal roots
Diana is descended from not one, but two illegitimate children of King Charles II of England: Henry Fitzroy and Charles Lennox, via two of her great-grandmothers, Adelaide Seymour and Rosalind Bingham.
But did you know that Camilla actually has royal blood herself? Her royal ancestry is distant, but there's a definite linkage that's worth mentioning. The Earl of Albermarle, Camilla's 2x great-grandfather. The link comes from Camilla's 2x maternal great-grandfather Lieutenant Colonel William Coutts Keppel, born 1832.
King Charles is married to Queen Consort Camilla, whom he married in 2005. So what did King Charles inherit from Queen Elizabeth? After the Queen's death, King Charles inherited the Sovereign Grant, a taxpayer fund each year to the British royal family.
Princess Diana married now-King Charles back in 1981, and the current Queen Consort was in the congregation watching the ceremony. Camilla Parker Bowles, as she was known then, wore a pale grey dress to the service which many assumed was a white gown.
A year after Diana's death in 1997, Charles and Camilla made their relationship public and eventually got married in 2005. On September 8, 2022, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Charles officially became King Charles III; Camilla will now be known as the Queen Consort.
Camilla Originally Wanted to Be “Princess Consort”
So why did Camilla initially want to be Princess cCnsort and not Queen Consort? Apparently, this decision was made partly out of respect to Princess Diana—which is also why Camilla doesn't use the title Princess of Wales and instead goes by Duchess of Cornwall.
1970: When Prince Charles and Camilla First Meet
In the summer of 1970, the fun-loving 24-year-old debutante Camilla Shand reportedly met 22-year-old Prince Charles at a polo match at Great Windsor Park.
Camilla Parker Bowles grew up in an aristocratic family and was first romantically linked to Charles in the 1970s. The details of their first encounter have never been made clear, but they moved in the same circles, and various reports suggest they met at a party or a polo match.
Before she encountered the now-King, Camilla began a relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles in the 1960s, per the BBC. She met then-Prince Charles at the beginning of the next decade. "After college, Camilla's friends asked why she hadn't married a lord or a duke," Andersen said.
King Charles III's reaction to the death of his former wife Princess Diana in 1997 reportedly shocked royal aides, with an expert claiming that he 'collapsed' and cried uncontrollably despite his differences with Diana.