Just eight months after his mother’s tragic death, Prince William, then 15, was forced to meet the woman who had caused Diana years of heartbreak — Camilla Parker Bowles.
Charles had told his young sons that he was in love with Camilla — who Diana nicknamed “The Rottweiler” — two months before their mother died in a Paris car crash.
British author Penny Junor has detailed William’s first meeting with the woman who would become his stepmother in her controversial new book Prince William: Born to be King.
Related: Princess Diana ‘mentally unstable’ and a ‘bad mother’
In the book, Junor — who has recently spoken out against Diana, claiming she was “mentally unstable” and a “bad mother” — says Charles forced William to meet his mistress less than a year after his mother had died.
One day in June, 1998, Junor says William arrived at his flat at St James’s Palace, where Camilla was staying with Charles.
Charles immediately took Camilla up to William’s apartment and left her there alone with his son for half an hour.
Junor claims Camilla came out of the encounter saying, “I need a drink,” but says Camilla and William were pleasantly surprised by how well they got on.
“Despite the fact that it was less than a year since his mother’s death, William had been friendly and Camilla had been sensitive about his feelings,” Junor writes.
“They met again for lunch a few days later and had tea a couple of times. Occasionally, she’d stay over when he was in London and have breakfast with him.”
But even though William didn’t find Camilla as “poisonous” as he expected to, Junor says he and his younger brother Harry took “many years” to warm to her.
They didn’t allow themselves to be seen in public with her until 2001 and found it very difficult to be around her in private too.
“I think the relationship between them all is warm now but if I’m honest, it wasn’t then,” a palace insider told Junor. “I think they found it hard.
“I remember Harry being uncomfortable and saying something awkward. It was difficult for them; it was a natural thing. You want your mum — you don’t want her.
“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. It wasn’t all happy families for quite a long time, but William was happy to see his father happy.”
In pictures: Camilla steps out in Diana’s jewels
In 2005, William and Harry decided to give their blessing and Charles and Camilla got married.
Camilla, who became the Duchess of Cornwall when she wed Charles, is now believed to have an excellent relationship with William and Harry and is said to be particularly close to William’s wife Catherine.
Your say: Do you think Charles should have been more sensitive to his sons’ feelings about Camilla?
Video: Camilla takes tea with Kate and the queen
