Shocking phone calls, years of deceit,
and a tactical introduction to society following Princess Diana's death – Camilla
Parker Bowles' road to becoming queen consort wasn’t as pretty as you think.
Prior to claiming the title of queen consort, Camilla Parker Bowles [BOHLS] grew up in a
wealthy family. The daughter of Major Bruce and Rosalind Shand,
she was raised in an estate called The Laines in the Plumpton village of East Sussex. The
sprawling property, which sits on five acres of land, was reportedly once a rectory.
According to The Guardian, Camilla's father found success as a wine merchant after serving
in the British Army. Meanwhile, Camilla's mother was born into an
aristocratic family and was a descendent of a very successful property developer,
per Vanity Fair. As a result, the queen consort started building her
own wealth from a young age and received a sizable inheritance from her grandparents.
Camilla Parker Bowles may have grown up in an extremely rich household,
but it was anything but stuffy or cold. In fact,
members of the Shand family were incredibly close-knit, which helped instil the queen
consort with strong values and a rock-solid character. As Camilla once told the Daily Mail,
"We were brought up in a very happy family and I can't whinge
about my childhood because it was idyllic."
William Shawcross, a biographer who grew up with
Camilla, revealed that the queen consort's mother, Rosalind Shand,
was particularly involved in the lives of her children. As Shawcross told Vanity Fair,
"There were ponies, dogs, picnics. There was no pomp, no snobbery,
but a lot of fun for all ages. The Shands were a happy clan."
By the time Camillia Parker Bowles was ten years old, she was sent to private
school. The queen consort was apparently confident and strong-willed as a young child,
which attracted the attention of both her boy and girl classmates. Broderick
Munro-Wilson, a longtime friend of Camilla, told the Sunday Mirror,
"She was into boys much quicker than other girls of her age. There was this
daredevil element in her. There is a certain boldness required to go riding,
hunting and jumping, and that shone through."
The queen consort was also reportedly less interested in dressing up and being proper.
Instead, she was passionate about spending time outdoors,
and taking part in activities like hunting and horseback riding.
"I don't mind the cold. I think we were so used to it when we were children."
Carolyn Benson, a classmate of the queen consort, once said, per "Game of Crowns,"
"She could talk to boys about things that interested them. [...] She was
never a girls' girl. She was always a boy's girl."
Camilla Parker Bowles may be known for her romance with King Charles III,
but she was previously married to Andrew Parker Bowles. According to Vanity Fair,
Andrew and Camilla were first introduced in the late 1960s, and began an on-again,
off-again relationship that lasted for several years. As avid viewers of "The Crown" will know,
during a break from their romance in the early '70s, Andrew dated Princess Anne, while Camilla
started a relationship with Charles. Surprisingly, Camilla's relationship with Charles initially
happened out of spite and jealousy. Per The Times, royal biographer Penny Junor once explained,
"[Camilla] was passionately in love with [Andrew] but he was a cad [...] So when she
was introduced to Charles and he thought she was pretty special [...] she thought
'Andrew is [...] off with Princess Anne, you know her brother, teach Andrew a lesson.'"
Despite the way their fling began, Camilla and Charles fell in love with one another. However,
Camilla's less-than favorable reputation, combined with her lower social standing, made their romance
nearly impossible. Their relationship came to an end when Charles joined the Royal
Navy. While he was away, Camilla got engaged to Andrew, and the pair tied the knot in 1973.
Andrew and Camilla welcomed her first child, Thomas Parker Bowles, in 1974. Tom is a well-known
food critic based in London, and the author of multiple cookbooks. The queen consort's
second child, Laura, arrived four years later. Laura has had a successful career in the arts,
after interning at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Unsurprisingly, Camilla's children have
nothing but kind things to say about the queen consort. Tom told "BBC Five Live,"
"She's a brilliant grandmother. [...] I mean, she works incredibly hard. She'd be
the first to say that she didn't really have a job apart from being our mother,
which she was very good at, and suddenly at age 55 she is working."
By 1978, King Charles III had finished his naval career and
was still an eligible bachelor. Meanwhile, Camilla Parker Bowles was five years into
her marriage and a mother of two. Despite the countless women Charles dated over the years,
none quite made him as happy as Camilla. However, she was married and, at the time,
there was little likelihood that she would divorce Andrew Parker Bowles.
In 1980, Charles started courting Lady Diana Spencer. Their romance progressed quickly, with
the then-prince proposing in February 1981, and the pair tying the knot in July of the same year.
"Well I remember thinking what a jolly and amusing and attractive 16-year-old she was."
Sadly, their marriage was notoriously doomed from the start. As we now know,
it would seem that Charles was still in love with Camilla throughout his
marriage to Princess Diana. In 1986, just five years after his wedding to Diana,
Charles reportedly started an affair with Camilla, according to Town & Country.
Charles and Camilla's affair wasn't much of a secret, and according to multiple reports,
both Andrew and Diana were well aware of the extramarital liaison.
"A woman's instinct is a very good one."
In 1989, three years into the affair, Princess Diana even confronted the future
queen consort at a party. As Diana revealed in Andrew Morton's "Diana:
Her True Story - In Her Own Words," she told Camilla,
"I know what's going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that."
Before long, the general public learnt about the royal affair, too. In 1992, Charles and Camilla
would be thrust into the spotlight following rumors of an intimate phone call between the two.
Season 5 of "The Crown" re-created one of King Charles III and Camilla Parker Bowles'
most embarrassing moments. After attempting to keep their romance under wraps for many years,
a very private phone between the two was illicitly recorded by a stranger. In 1993,
a transcript of the call was subsequently printed by multiple publications around
the world, leaving no doubt that Charles and Camilla were together.
"I've come to the conclusion that really it would've been far easier to have two wives."
In the recordings, which took place in December 1989, Charles and Camilla exchange
sweet nothings to one another. At one point, the conversation turns explicit when the future
king desperately pleads with the queen consort, and suggests that he should be reincarnated as
her tampon. As a result, the scandal became widely known as "Tampongate." In his book,
"Guarding Diana: Protecting The Princess Around The World," Ken Warfe revealed,
"The backlash was savage. Establishment figures normally loyal to the future King and country
were appalled, and some questioned the Prince's suitability to rule."
The repercussions of the incident were extremely serious, especially for Charles.
As reported by the LA Times, "Tampongate" posed questions about Charles' ability to
take over the throne, but it also made the royals reevaluate their security measures.
Despite already knowing about his wife's affair with Charles, Andrew Parker Bowles was reportedly
very embarrassed by the "Tampongate" scandal. In January 1995, Andrew and Camilla mutually
filed for a divorce. In a joint statement obtained by The Washington Post, the pair said,
"We have grown apart to such an extent that, with the exception of our children
and a lasting friendship, there is little of common interest between us,
and we have therefore decided to seek divorce."
By the time Camilla filed for divorce, Charles and Diana were already separated. The former Prince
and Princess of Wales announced their separation in December 1992, though their divorce wasn't
finalized until August 1996, per History. Touching on the divorce, Princess Diana told the BBC,
"We had struggled to keep it going, but obviously we'd both run out of steam."
"Until it became irretrievably broken down."
No longer a married man, Charles now had the freedom to start a formal relationship with
Camilla. However, Princess Diana tragically died in a car accident in 1997. According to
Vanity Fair, following the death of his ex-wife, Charles strategically put his plans to publicly
introduce Camilla as his partner on hold. Behind the scenes, however, the couple were apparently
fighting for acceptance in the royal family. Prince William, Charles and Diana's oldest son,
allegedly had an awkward first meeting with Camilla in 1998, per The Irish Times.
After two years of building trust, Charles and Camilla went public in January 1999,
when they were photographed leaving a party at the Ritz Hotel together. Afterwards,
the two started to attend more events in public together.
King Charles III and Camilla Parker Bowles were together, publicly and officially,
for nearly six years before getting married on April 9, 2005. The couple had the support
of the royal family behind them for the special event. Charles' parents,
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, along with Charles' sons,
Prince William and Prince Harry, all attended a blessing for the couple's marriage.
Following the ceremony, Camilla was officially given the title of Her Royal Highness,
the Duchess of Cornwall. In her new role, Camilla took on many official duties. In particular,
she has taken charity work very seriously since officially being integrated into the royal
family. She was the president of Britain's National Osteoporosis Society and brings
awareness to the debilitating condition which reportedly took the lives of both her mother
and grandmother. Camilla has also dedicated her time to causes involving animal welfare,
literacy, and domestic violence. A source once revealed to the Belfast Telegraph.
"She believes it is crucial that she can use her influence to make a difference for women."
Her dedication to important causes helped many to warm up to her,
especially Queen Elizabeth II. In fact, their relationship improved dramatically over the years,
and the queen even helped Camilla earn the title of queen consort.
After a 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. As the queen’s eldest son,
Charles was next in line to the throne, and he immediately took the title of king. Meanwhile,
Camilla Parker Bowles received the title of queen consort. The decision to give Camilla
the title of queen consort came in February 2022, during Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum
Jubilee. In a letter addressed to the public, the queen announced the decision, writing,
"When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his
wife Camilla the same support 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."
While Charles and Camilla have already acquired their new titles,
they won't be crowned until the coronation, which is scheduled to take place on May 6, 2023.
The road to becoming queen consort has been a long and rocky one for Camilla Parker Bowles. Once
deemed a controversial figure for her involvement with Charles, many believed that Camilla was
instrumental in causing the then-prince's divorce from Diana. As a result, Camilla was
made out to be a villain in the media. On top of all the criticisms of her character, her outward
appearance was also picked apart for years. In fact, Camilla's standing with the general public
got so bad that she was once considered to be the "most hated woman in Britain," per NBC News.
Despite Camilla's difficult and complicated history, a majority
of Brits reportedly now support her and her new title. According to a 2022 YouGov poll,
53% of the population are on board with Camilla as the queen consort. Though Princess Diana's
death and legacy will never be forgotten, it seems as though most of the British public
has accepted the union between Charles and Camilla. With a new queen consort as
its face, the world seemingly supports the transformation of a once rigid monarchy.