Relationships within the British Royal Family have become quite the talking point in the last few years, not least because of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to leave.
Controversies are common place where Buckingham Palace is concerned, and one person who’s found herself in the eye of a recurring storm over the years is Camilla Parker Bowles.
The now-Queen Consort’s entrance into the Royal Family sparked considerable controversy – she and King Charles’ had an alleged affair when he was still married to Princess Diana. Interestingly, it was said for a long while that Prince Harry in particular struggled to show her warmth.
Now, new details about the relationship between Prince Harry and his mother-in-law have come to light. According to a royal expert, she’s always been suspicious about him.
The Royal Family will never be the same after the passing of Queen Elizabeth. Last Monday, she was buried at Windsor Castle; laid to rest beside her beloved husband, Prince Philip.
Camilla Parker Bowles – Queen Consort
King Charles, as a result, is now the monarch. His crowning will most likely not take place before next year, but his beloved wife, Camilla, has become Queen consort.
King Charles has praised and thanked the nation for their support through the challenging mourning period of his beloved mother. That also goes for Camilla, who paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth before the funeral.
“There weren’t women prime ministers or women presidents, she was the only one, so I think she carved her own role,” Camilla said. “She’s been part of our lives forever. I’m 75 now and I can’t remember anyone except the Queen being there,”
A minute of silence was held nationwide the day before the funeral, and even television programs paused at 8 P.M. local time as the entire nation stood still.
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Moreover, Camilla said she never will forget Her Majesty the Queen’s smile, saying she had “wonderful blue eyes.”
The Queen’s passing means significant changes to the monarchy, especially regarding Queen Consort Camilla.
Whether Camilla Parker Bowles would become Queen Consort or not is a matter that has been debated for a long time. It wasn’t until earlier this year – on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne – that the Queen, for the first time, publicly addressed her daughter-in-law’s role in the monarchy.
When then-Prince Charles married Camilla in 2005, she received the title of Duchess of Cornwall. The palace also announced that she would become “Princess Consort” when Charles ascended to the throne.
Camilla’s turbulent time in the royal family
However, earlier this year, the Queen’s announcement marked a shift in the monarchy’s approach to Camilla and her official title.
Her Majesty’s ‘sincere wish’ was that Camilla would be known as Queen Consort when Charles was sworn in as the new King.
“And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me, and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service,” Queen Elizabeth said.
Even though Camilla’s reputation with the public now seems to be improved, the reality is that her entrance into the Royal Family was more than just a tad controversial.
It didn’t take long before it was a veritable storm. A few short years after the wedding between Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles, Camilla engaged in an affair with the now-King.
According to Prince Charles’ authorized biography, as quoted by Town & Country, their affair started in 1986. Charles was still married to Princess Diana at that time, and she found out about it.
Confronted by Diana after affair
In 1989, Diana confronted Camilla over the affair, telling her to back off.
“I know what’s going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that,” Camilla recalled Diana saying, as quoted by Town & Country.
“[Diana] said to me: ‘You’ve got everything you ever wanted. You’ve got all the men in the world falling in love with you and you’ve got two beautiful children, what more do you want?’”
“So I said, ‘I want my husband.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry I’m in the way and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know what’s going on. Don’t treat me like an idiot,’” Diana said, as per Camilla.
Things continued as usual, at least from the public’s perspective. But it wasn’t long before Charles and Diana’s fairytale life was over. In 1992, the couple announced their separation, though both continued with their official royal duties. Four years later, in August of 1996, they reached a final agreement for the divorce.
By that stage, things had already reached the ears of the public regarding Charles’s relationship with Camilla.
In November 1995, Diana appeared in a televised interview with Martin Bashir and spoke about her marriage. When asked about Camilla and if she was a factor in the breakdown of their marriage, Diana answered: “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
The public had a hard time accepting that Charles and Diana had divorced. Another who reportedly felt the same way as Queen Elizabeth herself.
Camilla was called “wicked woman” by the Queen
In 2018, investigative author and journalist Tom Bower claimed that, at first, the Queen didn’t want any interaction with Camilla.
At the time of Diana’s passing, there was an ongoing campaign to “introduce” Charles and Camilla’s relationship to the public. However, that was promptly abandoned in the wake of Diana’s passing.
At one point, it all became too much for Charles. As per author and journalist Tom Bower, he confronted his mother at Balmoral Castle.
“He asked that she soften her antagonism so he could live openly with Camilla,” he said. “His hope was that the Queen, who rarely interfered, would at least not directly forbid it.”
The Queen, however, was of a different mind. She is said to have lashed out at Charles.
Bower continued: “But on that evening she’d had several martinis, and to Charles’ surprise, she replied forcefully: she would not condone his adultery, nor forgive Camilla for not leaving Charles alone to allow his marriage to recover. [Queen Elizabeth] vented her anger that he had lied about his relationship with what she called ‘that wicked woman,’ and added: ‘I want nothing to do with her.’”
Prince Charles and Camilla continued steadily building their image as a couple. The now-Queen Consort even met Prince William in 1998 and, of course, also Harry.
Camilla Parker Bowles’ relationship with Harry
Now, Camilla and Harry’s relationship has had its fair share of drama – things are still reportedly strenuous today.
Prince Harry was about to turn 14 when his mother, Princess Diana, passed away in Paris. He and William had to walk behind her coffin as she was laid to her final rest, a decision they criticized later on in life.
The brothers were left without a loving mother who had always made sure to raise them just like normal children. They then got a stepmother in Camilla, though she and Harry clashed.
Harry, of course, missed his mother dearly. When he met Camilla for the first time, it was said to have been “awkward and tense.”
“I think the relationship between them all is warm now but if I’m honest, it wasn’t then. I think they found it hard,” a palace source told royal biographer Penny Junor, author of Prince William: Born to be King. “To be fair to Camilla, she never tried to be mummy but she was the ‘other woman’ and she was there and taking daddy’s time.”
At the same time, other royal experts also paint a picture of Harry and Camila not getting along initially.
In her book The Palace Papers, royal author Tina Brown wrote that Harry “unnerved” Camilla.
“When the younger boy was eventually prevailed upon to be in the presence of Mrs Parker Bowles, he unnerved her with long silences and smouldering, resentful stares,” she quoted a courtier saying.
‘Harry “not made his peace” with Camilla being Queen’
Moreover – when it was announced that Camilla was to become Queen Consort – Brown claimed that Harry wouldn’t accept it.
“William has accepted Camilla in terms of what she means to his father. He’s been grown-up about it. “My father loves this woman, I can’t fight it, so I won’t,” she said.
“Harry, on the other hand, can’t stand Camilla, he doesn’t want Camilla to be Queen, he’s very angry that it’s happening. He has not made his peace with it and he probably never will.”
Harry and Camilla’s relationship has undoubtedly had its ups and downs. In 2005, when he turned 21, he said that he and his brother William “loved her to bits” and thanked her for making his father, King Charles, very happy.
At the same time, however, tensions between them have always resided. As a friend of the brothers once said, they have never been especially close to her.
When Harry and Meghan left the UK, relationships between they and the Royal Family grew strained. Camilla, of course, is among those who has reason to have disliked the couple’s candid approach – some are worried that Harry will drop bombshells about her in his upcoming biography.
Since Harry and Meghan now have two children and live in the US, royal expert Ingrid Seward concluded that he probably wouldn’t be as interested in developing a relationship with his stepmother at this point in his life.
Camilla “not interested” in relationship with Harry
“I don’t think Harry has a great deal of warmth for her; he waxes and wanes with her,” Seward said on the podcast Pod Save the Queen earlier this year.
“I don’t know about the recent trip, but certainly I think Harry was quite happy to accept Camilla in the
Meanwhile, royal expert Angela Levin suggests that Camilla isn’t interested in a relationship with Harry either. In her new biography of Camilla, Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort, she claims that the Queen Consort always has been “suspicious” of her younger stepson.
“The Duchess always felt quite wary of Harry and used to see him out of the corner of her eye looking at her in a long and cold way. She found it rather unnerving. Otherwise, they got on quite well,” Levin writes.
Moreover, the author’s royal insider said that Harry has recently grown increasingly pessimistic about Camilla.
She quoted her sources saying that the treatment “could be part of his therapy process to relive certain things and he may want to blame someone else for his own mistakes. As I understand it his father and stepmother have become hateful in his mind. I’ve also been told that Meghan has been horrible about her too.”
Moreover, the source expressed that Harry and Meghan’s relationship, and problems with the rest of the Royal Family have taken its toll on Camila.
“What has happened and how [Prince Harry] has behaved has been very upsetting for her. There have been a lot of hurt feelings all round, but like all families you have to embrace it all and hope it will improve,” Levin writes in Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort.
Harry suggested a mediator at meeting with Charles and William
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle haven’t seen the Royal Family so frequently in the last few years. Harry was back in the UK for Philip’s funeral, as well as the unveiling of a statue for Princess Diana in the Sunken Garden.
Meghan and Harry, of course, attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, but the broken relationship between the couple and the Royal Family has been in evidence, even in times of mourning.
William, Harry and Charles were said to have had a sit-down following Prince Philip’s funeral. Harry, though, described it as an “ambush.”
Weeks before the Queen’s passing, Harry and Meghan paid a short visit to England on their way to the Invictus Games. King Charles wanted to meet both his son and his wife in order to clear the air.
According to royal author Katie Nichol’s new book The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown, Harry and Meghan wanted a mediator at the meeting to ensure the peace. This, apparently, left Camilla very upset.
“He actually suggested that they use a mediator to try and sort things out, which had Charles somewhat bemused and Camilla spluttering into her tea,” Nichols wrote, per The Mirror.
“She told Harry it was ridiculous and that they were a family and would sort it out between themselves.”