Blame the Queen: why Prince Charles had 30 years to wait for his beloved Camille
'23.06.2021'
Source: TSN
A lifelong love story. This is how you can characterize the difficult relationship between British Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. They have been officially married for sixteen years, but their love affair began in the distant 70s, long before the prince married Diana Spencer.
First love and acquaintance
During her acquaintance with Charles Camilla, Rosemary Shand had been in a relationship with officer Andrew Parker-Bowles for several years, says Masha Yemelyanova for TSN... However, the stately man was successful not only in work, he turned the head of more than one lady, not counting Camilla. Their romance began beautifully, with courtship and romantic dates, but Andrew was in no hurry with the marriage proposal, and Camilla had nothing left but a long and painful wait. Parker Bowles began to cheat on his future wife and mother of his two children even before the wedding and continued after it. Therefore, Camilla at first regarded her acquaintance with the royal heir as an excellent opportunity to “play” on the nerves of an unfaithful but beloved man.
Charles and Camilla were introduced by their mutual friend, Lucia Santa Cruz, the daughter of the Chilean ambassador to Great Britain, who was friends with the future heir to the crown Charles, and with Camilla Shand. The problems in the relationship between Camilla and Andrew Parker-Bowles Lucia knew what they called, first-hand and simply as a friend decided to help Camille.
The first meeting that changed everything
Their meeting took place in 1971. Camilla, although she was not beautiful, but Charles liked immediately. She was easy and at ease with her, she laughed at his jokes and did not try to please her, as the other girls from the Prince’s entourage did. And Charles seems to be seriously in love. Camilla did not plan that there would be more between her and the prince than more simple intrigue, because she wanted to annoy Andrew. But everything went completely different scenario.
Charles and Camilla began to call up and meet frequently, soon not only Andrew Parker-Bowles, who was well acquainted with Charles, learned about it, because they played polo together. The Prince’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, learned about this affair, and, to put it mildly, was not at all pleased with her. Elizabeth did not like either the origin of Camilla - she was the daughter of a wine merchant and aristocracy, or the fact that Camilla already had men before Charles. In a word, Her Majesty could not allow this marriage. Therefore, she sent her son to serve in the fleet, making it clear to Camille that she might not even hope for a wedding with her eldest son.
On the subject: Why Diana to the last postponed the divorce from Charles, despite his treason
It was a difficult time for both, Charles wrote letters to Camille, and she still suffered, because the original plan, according to which she just wanted to take revenge on Andrew, was failed. He began to meet with Prince Charles's younger sister, Princess Anna, and the queen herself approved of the affair, knowing full well that it wouldn’t work before the wedding, because Andrew was a Catholic, and, according to the law, Anna could not marry him. When the princess after a while was fascinated by her future husband - Olympic champion Mark Phillips, Andrew Parker-Bowles realized that the time had come not only to return Camille, but also to make her a long-awaited offer.
Wedding with Andrew Parker-Bowles
The wedding ceremony took place 4 July 1973 of the year. Prince Charles received an invitation to the wedding, but did not come to the celebration, he wrote a letter to Camille, in which he said that his heart was broken. Soon Camilla gave birth to her first-born son, Tom (whose godfather became Charles), and four years later her daughter Laura was born. However, a strong family still did not work, as Andrew continued to cheat on his spouse, and this was no secret to herself or to others.
Prince Charles and Diana Spencer Wedding
Meanwhile, Charles was on the eve of the 30 anniversary, he was in no hurry to marry, and in the palace got worried. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had long been looking for a suitable passion for her son and opted for the young lady Diana Spencer, the younger daughter of Count John Spencer. Prior to meeting Diana, her older sister Sarah made an attempt to become the wife of the future king, but Charles scared off such persistence of the girl, and he quickly stopped any meetings with her. In 1978, the prince resumed romance with Camilla Parker-Bowles, who by that time was already firmly convinced that her legal husband would not settle down, would not return fully to her family, and she had spent on waiting for this for more than ten years of life. Perhaps Charles and Camilla would have continued to meet in secret if they had not found out about their romance in the palace.
The year was 1980, when Charles began to actively “bring together” with Diana Spencer. Both the prince and his beloved Camilla were well aware that the queen would not allow them to get married, so Camilla supported Charles when it came time to make the decision to marry Diana. On the wedding day, the prince cried, because he was forced to marry a girl he did not love, and the one who forever captivated his heart could not be with him.
On the subject: Why did Elizabeth II choose the poorest prince throughout Europe
The wedding of Diana and Prince Charles took place on July 29 1981. In 1982, their eldest son, Prince William, was born, and in 1984, the youngest, Prince Harry. Diana was preoccupied with taking care of children, for some time even abandoned the nanny and dealt with everything herself. Probably, the sons became a real outlet for the princess, because the relationship with Charles was not the best, and it was not Camilla that was to blame, but a big age difference and different interests of both. The prince did not cheat on Diana for the first five years of his family life, but in the 1986 year, when he realized that he was completely broken and unhappy, he resumed contact with the only woman who understands his feelings, Camilla. The prince publicly announced that he was dating Camille in 1994, and 28 in August 1996, Diana and Charles were officially divorced.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles Wedding
A year after the death of Princess Diana, on 1998, Prince Charles introduced Camille to his sons. They say that Camilla and princes William and Harry quickly found a common language. And two years later, at one of the receptions, Camilla was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II. Seeing Camilla’s sincere feelings for her son, the queen changed her anger to mercy and allowed her son to finally meet his beloved woman. Thirty years from the date of their acquaintance, Charles and Camilla did get married. It was a civil ceremony at which neither the queen nor her husband, Prince Edinburgh Philip, appeared.
However, a few days before this, Elizabeth II was present at the service in the chapel of St. George, where Charles and Camilla received the blessing of the archbishop for their, if not ecclesiastical, but such a long-awaited marriage. After the wedding, Camilla received all the titles of her husband, including the title of Princess of Wales, but does not use it, paying tribute to the late Princess Diana.
Many say that Prince Charles’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, should be grateful to Camille for having loved their father for all these years and was able to prove her love not only to him, but also to the queen, who later gave permission for marriage. After all, if it were not for Camilla, perhaps none of the queen’s grandchildren could marry for love.
But still I want to believe that Elizabeth II herself realized her mistake when she forced her son to marry an unloved woman.
