Perhaps the most infamous "other woman" of all time, Camilla Parker Bowles needs no introduction.
This royal is now beloved, but let's rewind to when Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall was known
as the shadiest of all.
Camilla Shand met Andrew Parker Bowles in 1966, and despite his womanizing reputation,
the 19-year-old was completely smitten.
Unfortunately, the British army officer allegedly cheated on Camilla repeatedly throughout their
on-again, off-again relationship.
Although the duchess put up with her boyfriend's cheating, according to biographer Penny Junor,
"Camilla saw [Andrew's] car parked outside the home of one of her best friends, and she
let the air out of his tires."
In the early '70s, Andrew began a secret, intimate relationship with Princess Anne.
Camilla must have decided that when your ex is dating a princess, vandalizing his car
for a second time just won't cut it.
So instead she apparently sought revenge by dating a future king, who also happened to
be Princess Anne's brother.
According to Junor's The Duchess: The Untold Story,
"[Camilla's] principal motivation was to have some excitement and make Andrew jealous."
While revenge may have been her initial motivation, Camilla and Charles clearly became infatuated
during their 18 month affair.
But Andrew was never completely out of the picture.
In Camilla and Charles: The Love Story, author Caroline Graham claims that Camilla told a
friend at the time,
"I love Charles very much but I simply can't forget about Andrew.
[...] Is it possible to love two men at the same time?"
It appears that Camilla Parker Bowles' revenge plan worked.
After Princess Anne and Andrew's fling had run its course, the military man ran back
to Camilla and asked for her hand in marriage in 1973.
And while some may wonder if the duchess carelessly tossed Prince Charles aside, the truth is
far more complex.
Apparently Camilla was aware that a marriage proposal from Charles was highly unlikely,
as the royal family would never approve of the relationship.
In Battle of Brothers: William and Harry, author Robert Lacey wrote that when Charles
was deployed with the Royal Navy,
"He wanted to marry Camilla [...] but he did not have the courage to tell her."
Without Charles declaration of love, and knowing the realities of royal marriage traditions,
Camilla accepted Parker Bowles' proposal.
When news of the impending nuptials reached him, the Prince of Wales was said to have
been utterly devastated.
Per Marie Claire,
"Charles wrote of his sadness to his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, that 'such a blissful, peaceful
and mutually happy relationship' had ended."
According to royal biographer Penny Junor, the prince also wrote to Camilla one week
before her wedding in an attempt to convince her to call it off.
In The Duchess, Penny Junor noted that when Prince Charles began dating Diana Spencer,
Camilla Parker Bowles approved.
Junor explained,
"At first, Diana liked Camilla and appreciated her friendship — a friendship that was genuine."
However, their "friendship" soon soured after Charles proposed.
Diana revealed in Andrew Morton's biography Diana: Her True Story In Her Own Words that
Camilla allegedly invited her to lunch and shadily said,
"Such exciting news about the engagement.
Do let's have lunch soon.
[...] I'd love to see the ring."
Soon after, Diana realized that Camilla was certainly no friend.
The princess told Morton,
"I couldn't understand why she kept saying to me, 'Don't push him into doing this, don't
do that.'
She knew so much about what he was doing privately and about what we were doing privately.
[...] Eventually, I worked it all out and found the proof of the pudding."
It's been largely assumed that the Prince and Princess of Wales separated due to Charles'
ongoing affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
Diana famously told the BBC in 1995,
"Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
The year before, Charles defended himself in his own televised interview, insisting
that he was only faithful to Diana,
“Until it became irretrievably broken down."
Several media outlets reported that Charles and Camilla began seeing each again in 1986,
only five years after his marriage to Diana.
Various royal biographers have maintained that the Prince of Wales felt pressured by
his family into choosing a bride and settling down.
In Charles at Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes & Dreams, author Robert Jobson described Charles' deep
anguish and anxiety after the engagement announcement, claiming that as Charles got to know Diana,
he realized that they had nothing in common.
While the media painted Charles and Camilla as villains, Jobson further insisted,
"The bottom line is that their [Charles and Diana's] 'fairytale' marriage [...] was doomed
from the start."
It's only natural that Princess Diana and Camilla Parker Bowles loathed one another.
In the book Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles, author Tom
Bowers alleged that the Duchess of Cornwall disliked Diana, as he wrote,
"Her friends, at least, were never in any doubt about what Camilla thought of her lover's
young wife.
In the early days of the marriage, she'd dismissively called the Princess 'a mouse.'
Later, she'd refer to her as 'that mad cow.'"
Camilla wasn't the only using nasty nicknames to describe her rival.
Diana's friend, Simone Simmons, wrote in Diana: The Last Word that the princess called her
husband's lover "the Rottweiler."
Simmons claimed that Diana chose this nickname,
"Because once [Camilla] has got her teeth into someone she won't let go."
As far as the public knows, Camilla Parker Bowles never apologized to Princess Diana
for her affair with Prince Charles.
In Rebel Prince, Tom Bowers claimed that Camilla was unrepentant about her actions and considered
Diana to be a hypocrite.
The duchess allegedly told friends that while she only had "one lover," Diana had several.
Ironically, Princess Diana somehow ended up apologizing to her husband's mistress in 1989.
In secret recordings made for Andrew Morton's biography Diana: Her True Story In Her Own
Words, Diana recounted confronting Camilla about the affair, and said,
"[Camilla] said to me: 'You've got everything you ever wanted.
All the men in the world fall in love with you and you've got two beautiful children,
what more do you want?'
[...] So I said, 'I want my husband.'"
The Princess of Wales probably wanted an apology as well, but Camilla reportedly refused to
give her one.
Instead, Diana said that she told Camilla,
"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."
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