Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 17, 2025

"Charles' Soul Mate": All About Britain's New Queen Camilla

"Charles' Soul Mate": All About Britain's New Queen Camilla

When Charles' divorced first wife, the popular, glamorous Princess Diana, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Camilla bore the brunt of media hostility. Some declared the couple could never wed.
After years of being depicted as the most hated woman in Britain, Camilla, the second wife of King Charles, was crowned queen on Saturday, capping a remarkable turnaround in public acceptance few would have thought possible.

When Charles' divorced first wife, the popular, glamorous Princess Diana, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Camilla bore the brunt of media hostility. Some declared the couple could never wed.

But marry they did eight years later, and since then she has come to be recognised, albeit still grudgingly by some, as a key member of the royal family, as someone on whom the new king heavily relies, and as the nation's Queen Camilla.

"She is his sort of soul mate," said Robert Hardman, a long-time royal correspondent and author of 'Queen of our Times', pointing out she had been married to Charles longer than Diana.

"They're a team. And you've got to be a team."

Born Camilla Shand in 1947 into an affluent family - her father was an army major and wine merchant who married an aristocrat - she moved in social circles that brought her into contact with Charles, who she met on a windswept polo field in the early 1970s.

The pair dated for a time and Charles had contemplated marriage, but felt too young to take such a major step.

As he dedicated himself to his naval career, Camilla went on to marry a cavalry officer, Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles. The couple had two children, Tom and Laura. They divorced in 1995.

Charles himself married 20-year-old Diana in a wedding in 1981 that enchanted not just Britain but the world. After having two children, William and Harry, the relationship turned sour and they divorced in 1996 after he rekindled his romance with his former lover.

The depth of that relationship was exposed to a shocked public in 1993 when a transcript of a secretly recorded private conversation with hugely intimate details was published in newspapers.

"I'd suffer anything for you. That's love. That's the strength of love," Camilla told Charles in the secretly recorded telephone conversation publicised in 1993.

In a TV interview the following year, Charles admitted he had resumed their affair, but said it was only after his marriage had irretrievably broken down.

"There were three of us in this marriage - so it was a bit crowded," Diana, who dubbed Camilla "the Rottweiler", famously remarked in her own TV interview in 1995.

While Diana brought glamour to the stuffy House of Windsor with her glittering gowns, many Britons could not understand why Charles would prefer the country-loving Camilla, usually pictured wearing a scarf and green waterproof riding coat.

"I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla," Prince Philip, Charles' father and the late Queen Elizabeth's husband, said in a letter to Diana.

FOCUS OF CRITICISM

Amid a public outpouring of grief and anger after Diana's death, Camilla was singled out for harsh criticism. But in subsequent years, royal aides, tasked with rebuilding the tarnished reputation of the royal family as a whole, also slowly began to integrate Camilla into a more public role.

From being able to appear in public together, to marriage and last year's approval from Queen Elizabeth to Camilla taking the title Queen Consort, their success is complete.

Public relations experts say it was the result of much hard and careful work, although aides said it was mainly due to Camilla's own personality and great sense of humour.

"She is resilient, she was brought up with this extraordinary sense of duty where you got on with it, don't whinge, put your best face on and keep going, and it has stood her in very good stead," Fiona Shelburne, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, a close confidante of Camilla, now 75, told the Sunday Times last month.

However, her rehabilitation has come at a cost. In his memoir, Charles's younger son Prince Harry accused his step mother of leaking stories about him to the press to enhance her own reputation, and that he and his brother had asked their father not to marry her.

Polls also suggest she has not won widespread public affection either. A YouGov poll this week found while 48% had a positive view of her, 39% held a negative opinion, putting her among the least popular in the royal family.

Other surveys have also indicated only a minority thought she should be Queen Camilla.

"I think Diana ... will be hurling thunderbolts on coronation day, that's for sure," royal author Tina Brown told Reuters. "I mean the idea of a crown being placed upon the head of her deadliest rival, Camilla, I think would have given her absolute heartburn."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
Energy Infrastructure Becomes War Zone in Middle East
UK Home Secretary Apologizes Over Child Grooming Failures
Trump Organization Launches 5G Mobile Network and Golden Handset
Towcester Hosts 2025 English Greyhound Derby Amid Industry Scrutiny
Gary Oldman and David Beckham Knighted in King's Birthday Honours
Over 30,000 Lightning Strikes Recorded Across UK During Overnight Storms
Princess of Wales Returns to Public Duties at Trooping the Colour
Red Arrows Use Sustainable Fuel in Historic Trooping the Colour Flypast
Former Welsh First Minister Addresses Unionist Concerns Over Irish Language
Iran Signals Openness to Nuclear Negotiations Amid Ongoing Regional Tensions
France Bars Israeli Arms Companies from Paris Defense Expo
King Charles Leads Tribute to Air India Crash Victims at Trooping the Colour
Jack Pitchford Embarks on 200-Mile Walk to Support Stem Cell Charity
Surrey Hikers Take on Challenge of Climbing 11 Peaks in a Single Day
UK Deploys RAF Jets to Middle East Amid Israel-Iran Tensions
Two Skydivers Die in 'Tragic Accident' at Devon Airfield
Sainsbury's and Morrisons Accused of Displaying Prohibited Tobacco Ads
UK Launches National Inquiry into Grooming Gangs
Families Seek Closure After Air India Crash
Gold Emerges as Global Safe Haven Amid Uncertainty
Trump Reports $57 Million Earnings from Crypto Venture
Trump's Military Parade Sparks Concerns Over Authoritarianism
Nationwide 'No Kings' Protests Challenge Trump's Leadership
UK Deploys Jets to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions
Trump's Anti-War Stance Tested Amid Israel-Iran Conflict
Germany Holds First Veterans Celebration Since WWII
U.S. Health Secretary Dismisses CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi Urges Overthrow of Khamenei Regime
HSBC Accelerates Chairman Succession as Mark Tucker Prepares Departure
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Cristina Kirchner Requests House Arrest Citing Assassination Risk
Beata Thunberg Rebrands as Beata Ernman Amidst Sister's Activism Controversy
Israel Issues Ultimatum to Iran Over Potential Retaliation and Nuclear Facilities
Black Box Recovered from Air India Crash Site
Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Recounts Escape
UK and EU Reach New Economic Agreement
Coinbase CEO Warns Bitcoin Could Supplant US Dollar Amid Mounting National Debt
Trump to Iran: Make a Deal — Sign or Die
Two Women Found Dead in Eryri National Park
Operation "Like a Lion": Israel Strikes Iran in Unprecedented Offensive
Pentagon Initiates Review of AUKUS Nuclear Submarine Pact
Meta to Invest $15 Billion in Scale AI to Advance AGI Goals
Rare Cancer Cases Triple Among Millennials, Alarming Doctors
G7 Finance Ministers Convene in Canada with Focus on Ukraine and Trade Tariffs
×