King Charles and Queen Camilla: A love story for the ages

Of all the modern royal romances, King Charles and Queen Camilla’s has more twists and turns than a romantic comedy.

Despite meeting in their youth and even going on to marry other people, Charles and Camilla’s love has endured despite tabloid scandals and disapproving family members with the two finally tying the knot in 2005.

On photographing the King and Queen for Vanity Fair, photographer Alexi Lubomirski, who also took the official snaps for Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s wedding day, said that “there was a sparkle in their eyes — that’s when the magic happened. You feel like they are a young couple in love.”

The heir to the throne may have had the ultimate fairytale wedding with his first wife Princess Diana with whom he shares his two proud sons William and Harry, but it’s his second wife who is the true love of his life.

This is the story of Charles and Camilla and their transformation from starry-eyed youths to the now King and Queen of the United Kingdom.

Love at first sight

Charles and Camilla met in 1970 as many well-connected aristocratic couples do: on the polo field. They were introduced by mutual friend, Lucia Santa Cruz.

In The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown, royal biographer Penny Junor says the prince was drawn to the then Camilla Shand as she was “not in anyway overawed by him, not fawning or sycophantic.”

Not only did the two 23-year-olds share a love of polo, the great outdoors and have a similar sense of humour but they had a strange family connection too as Camilla’s great-grandmother had had an affair with King Edward VII.

The now Queen Consort joked, “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common.”

The couple dated for a year but it came to an end when the future King was called away on naval duties.

First marriages

Due to archaic traditions, Charles and Camilla were not a suitable match.

Despite being the granddaughter of a baron, Camilla was not from a royal circle fitting of a future queen and the heir apparent needed to marry someone virginal.

When Charles returned from his eight months of naval duties, Camilla had married Major Andrew Parker Bowles, who she had dated on and off in the late sixties and was seven years her senior. Charles was in the West Indies when he learned of the engagement via a letter from Camilla herself and was heartbroken.

“I suppose the feeling of emptiness will pass eventually,” a broken-hearted Charles apparently told friends.

It was quite the high society wedding too, the Queen Mother and even Princess Anne, who had a fling with Andrew himself, attended.

Charles, meanwhile had to find his own bride, and as he approached his thirties, the matter became more serious.

In a letter to the then-Prince Charles, his great uncle Lord Mountbatten wrote, “In a case like yours, the man should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can before settling down.”

“But I think for a wife he should choose a suitable attractive and sweet-character girl before she has met anyone else she might fall for.”

In July 1981, Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, the 20 year-old virginal daughter of Earl Spencer in a ceremony watched by millions. The couple had only met on 13 occasions before announcing their engagement and it was reportedly due to pressure from Prince Philip, Charles’ father.

Charles and Diana’s relationship seemed to be doomed from the start when Charles famously said, “Whatever in love means” when he was asked if he and Diana were in love during their engagement interview.

Camilla even attended the royal wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral and the bride knew about Charles and Camilla’s former relationship.

“I knew she was in there, of course. I looked for her,” Diana told biographer Andrew Morton in 1991. “So walking down the aisle, I spotted Camilla, pale grey, veiled pillbox hat, saw it all, her son Tom standing on a chair. To this day you know — vivid memory.”

Affairs and scandals

Years after their respective weddings, Camilla and Andrew and Charles and Diana welcomed their own children and remained in contact.

To this day, Charles is Camilla’s son Tom Parker Bowles’ godfather and now, stepfather!

However five years into his marriage, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles engaged in an affair. Camilla and Charles’ nicknames for each other (Gladys and Fred), were revealed when Diana found a bracelet with the initials GF on it.

But after a controversial phone tapping scandal., a highly-publicised divorce in 1992 followed.

Camilla and Andrew parted ways a few years afterwards in 1995. Despite constant media scrutiny, Camilla chose to stay silent. It was later revealed that Princess Diana and Andrew Parker Bowles were also unfaithful in the marriages.

Both Charles and Camilla may have been single, but their first official public ‘date’ wasn’t until 1999, two years after Diana’s death. Later that year, Camilla was introduced to Prince William and Prince Harry.

The late Queen Elizabeth, however, decided not to attend a private 50th birthday party for Charles because Camilla would be there and she disapproved of the former adultery. However, by 2000, she had accepted the relationship and welcomed Camilla to the fold.

A few short years later in 2003, Camilla had moved into Clarence House, Charles’ London residence.

Together at last

After years of dating, in 2005 the couple were delighted to announce their engagement.

The bride-to-be was proposed to with a family heirloom art deco style ring that was said to have been given to the Queen Mother in 1926 when the Queen was born. When asked if Charles got down on one knee, Camilla told a reporter, “Of course!”

Charles and Camilla married 35 years after their first meeting in a civil ceremony followed by a wedding blessing at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. Though they did not attend the ceremony, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip did appear at the religious blessing and reception.

In a toast to the couple, the Queen reportedly said about the couple, “They have overcome Becher’s Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles, they have come through and I’m very proud and wish them well. My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.”

Even though they have now been married for 18 years, people still view Camilla as “the other woman.”

“It was horrid. It was a deeply unpleasant time and I wouldn’t want to put my worst enemy through it. I couldn’t have survived it without my family,” the Duchess confessed years later.

Both families have welcomed Charles and Camilla as one of their own. Camilla’s little granddaughter Eliza Lopes was even a flower girl at Prince William and Princess Catherine’s 2011 nuptials.

“She’s a wonderful woman, and she’s made our father very, very happy, which is the most important thing. William and I love her to bits,” Prince Harry stated shortly after his father’s wedding.

WATCH: Charles and Camilla on their wedding day. Post continues…

Still in love

It’s clear to everyone around them that Charles and Camilla are smitten with each other.

“You can see it when they’re together. They enjoy each other’s company so much. You can see it best when they are dancing together—such genuine, deep-down affection and love. They both get the giggles — she first, then he tries to hold it together,” says Camilla’s nephew Ben Elliott.

“Travelling all over the world with the Prince, [Camilla] has had a miraculous effect on him. He is happier, more relaxed and more confident than ever before,” royal biographer Penny Junor told The Telegraph.

And the couple have sweet things to say about each other as well. Queen Camilla, who has been praised for her own work ethic, has spoken many times about how hard her husband works and calls him “a very exceptional man.”

“She’s remarkable really. She’s the best listener in the world,” King Charles said in a documentary about his wife.

In an interview with CNN, the King also said, “It’s always nice to have somebody on your side. She is an enormous support, and sees the funny side of life, thank God.”

“You can imagine it is a real, real challenge. But she’s, I think, been brilliant in the way she’s tackled these things.”

“It’s always marvellous to have somebody who, you know, you feel understands and wants to encourage. Although she certainly pokes fun if I get too serious about things. And all that helps.”

Their royal reign

On May 6, 2023 they will begin their royal reign together as King and Queen.

The coronation ceremony will be held at the Abbey Church of Westminster and Charles will officially be crowned the King, meanwhile Camilla intends to drop the ‘Consort’ part of her title to become Queen Camilla.

Here’s to many more years of drama-free happiness for the royal couple.