Yep, *that* lunch meeting between Princess Diana and now-Queen Camilla Parker Bowles at a restaurant called Ménage à Trois. It was… simply next-level.
On July 29, 1981, Charles and Diana got married. Camilla attended their wedding. According to royal biographer Andrew Morton, Camilla immediately caused a rift between Charles and Diana when Diana allegedly found an engraved necklace intended for Camilla while opening wedding gifts.
Diana and Camilla might have never had a close friendship, but when Charles and Diana started dating the pair were friendly with each other. At the time Camilla was married to Andrew Parker Bowles and had two children with him.
Queen Consort Camilla 'Wasn't Aristocratic Enough'
Junor also said that the royal family – in particular, Charles' great-uncle and surrogate father, Lord Mountbatten – didn't think she was "aristocratic" enough to be a princess.
Did Camilla and Diana really meet for lunch? According to royal writer Andrew Morton, the two women did in fact meet for lunch prior to the royal wedding.
1989. Diana confronts Camilla, approaching her at a party and saying, “I know what's going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that. She said to me: 'You've got everything you ever wanted.
Answer: The big reason Prince Charles and Camilla Shand, as she was then known, didn't get married in the early 1970s: He never asked her. And there are probably a number of reasons for that. In his early 20s, like many other young men, Charles simply wasn't ready for marriage.
Camilla was also seen as "earthy," which could mean "wholesome," or more likely could just be a synonym for "common," since she wasn't the daughter of a titled family (unlike Diana, the daughter of an earl). So Camilla was seen as something of an early test run relationship for Charles, but not someone he would marry.
As Charles would become Defender of the Faith when he took the throne, marrying a divorcée was tricky. And Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II, disapproved of Camilla's behavior, at one point reportedly calling her "that wicked woman." In addition, the Queen Mother, Charles' grandmother, detested Camilla.
She attempted suicide
One of the most troubling revelations from Princess Diana's audiotapes was that she struggled with depression and even attempted to take her own life.
Camilla was some 14 years older than Diana, so it's unsurprising that the 19 year old looked to her for advice. In fact Camilla was a closer contemporary of Diana's older sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, who Charles also briefly dated.
Princess Diana was distracted by Camilla Parker-Bowles after catching sight of her on her wedding day, a royal biographer claimed. Speaking on this week's episode of CNN documentary series The Windsors, royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith tells how Diana spotted Charles's ex-girlfriend as she walked down the aisle at.
When Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, married Prince Charles in 2005, the two walked down the aisle together during their religious ceremony, according to the New York Times.
As it goes, wedding mishaps even happen to royals. On the day of her wedding, Princess Diana accidentally spilled some Quelques Fleurs perfume on her dress, her makeup artist Barbara Daly revealed in Diana: The Portrait. Diana was quick to tuck the front of her dress in, though, effectively hiding the stain.
Charles and Camilla's friendship turned romantic over the course of 18 months. Royal expert Marlene Koening, who wrote about Charles and Camilla's relationship for BBC's History Extra, told Insider that the pair were instantly attracted to each other.
It's been a rocky road, but these two finally found their happily ever after. Of all the modern royal romances, King Charles and Queen Camilla's has more twists and turns than a romantic comedy.
Will Camilla be queen if King Charles dies? If Charles, 74, dies before Camilla, she will have the name of “queen dowager” bestowed upon her, according to reports. As Camilla is excluded from the Windsor bloodline, she would not be the sole queen in the event that Charles passes away before she does.
It turns out there has been no flight of fantasy in the penmanship of the show, as not only did the real Charles gift Camilla the exact same piece of jewellery with their pet names for each other, but he fobbed off Diana by telling her that it was a farewell gift for an ex-lover.
However, Princess Diana said that Camilla did not wear white, noting instead that the future queen consort donned a light gray for the occasion.
During that time, the Princess of Wales was romantically linked to a few different people, including art dealer Oliver Hoare and rugby star Will Carling. But only one man has been called the "love of her life"—British Pakistani surgeon Hasnat Khan, whom Diana dated from 1995 to 1997.
Camilla Is Related to Both Diana and King Charles
Strangely, they are also both related to the late Princess Diana through shared ancestry dating back to King Charles II. Also note that Camilla's great-grandmother was a mistress to King Edward VII, the great-great-grandfather of King Charles.
Besides celeb friends like Elton John and George Michael, one of Diana's best friends was Julia Samuel.
According to the BBC, it was the Queen's stamp of approval. Five years later, Charles and Camilla were engaged after the Queen gave them her blessing. However, Queen Elizabeth didn't attend the legal ceremony, but she did make an appearance at a secondary blessing, which she hosted at St. George's Chapel.
What's the difference between the Queen and the Queen Consort? The reigning monarch's wife is traditionally known as the Queen Consort, while the Queen (technically the “Queen Regnant”) refers to a woman who has ascended the throne through the pre-established familial line of succession and has sovereign power.