In the early years of Charles' relationship with her, the queen reportedly regarded Camilla with caution. That grew to a total distancing following Diana's death, but the queen began warming up toward her in the later years of her life. "The queen always detested Camilla," Andersen said.
Though it seems almost comically old fashioned now, the fact that Camilla had a dating history was a major strike against her. "The conventions of the time called for the heir to the British throne to marry a woman who at least appeared to be virginal," writes Bedell Smith.
On top of being a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and step-grandmother, Queen Consort Camilla also contributes a lot to charity. Since marrying Charles in 2005, she has become patron or president of more than 90 charities.
Diana was initially friendly with Camilla—until she found out about her relationship with Charles. Before that uncomfortable lunch, Camilla and Diana got along relatively well while the princess and Prince Charles were courting in 1980.
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. Not long after he met Camilla, Charles went off to serve in the navy. Camilla probably thought she could wait around forever without ever getting a proposal from the prince.
For much of that time, the palace considered her unfit for the future king. While the tumultuous romance of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, first ignited in the 1970s, they didn't marry until 2005. For much of that time, the palace considered her unfit for the future king.
It's rumored that Camilla's father planted a fake Camilla-Andrew engagement notice in The Times, apparently forcing Andrew's hand. Literally. Prince Charles returned home to news of Camilla and Andrew's engagement. According to Bedell Smith, that fake engagement announcement explains why Charles didn't marry Camilla.
Charles and Camilla were both attendees at the event, marrying a day later. The Duke of Sussex also confirmed press speculation that the Queen hadn't wanted to give Charles and Camilla permission to marry, even though she did give the pair her blessing.
“When Camilla and Charles made their relationship more formal, the Queen Mother was not pleased at all. Charles never would have married Camilla had his grandmother been alive," Tom Quinn added. Get Latest World Newsalong with Latest Newsfrom Indiaat Hindustan Times.
Before Prince Charles married Princess Diana (then Diana Spencer) in 1981, he was apparently already smitten with his former girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles (then Camilla Shand).
It was generally known that Camilla was in love with Andrew Parker Bowles and wanted to marry him. But no one took the romance between Charles and Camilla seriously.
Camilla Originally Wanted to Be “Princess Consort”
Apparently, this decision was made partly out of respect to Princess Diana—which is also why Camilla doesn't use the title Princess of Wales and instead goes by Duchess of Cornwall.
What Kate called the Queen. While the rest of the world is required to address Queen Elizabeth as Ma'am or your majesty, those closest to her are allowed to refer to her as Mama, according to Ingrid Seward, the editor of Majesty magazine. Sign up to British Heritage Travel's daily newsletter here!
Queen Elizabeth confirmed earlier this year that she wants Camilla to be known as Queen when her son Charles takes the throne. Stephanie Petit is a Royals Writer/Reporter at PEOPLE.
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge never met her mother-in-law Princess Diana but they share many similarities. The past and future Princesses of Wales have a lot in common.
“The Royals were thought to have preferred an innocent girl to marry Prince Charles,” the outlet further shared, and thus Princess Diana was secured for marriage with the future King Charles.
"One of the most shocking things that Diana told me was that the night before the wedding, Charles told her that he didn't love her," Thornton said. "I think Charles didn't want to go into the wedding on a false premise. He wanted to square it with her, and it was devastating for Diana."
But throughout Princess Diana and the then Prince of Wales's 20-year odyssey, there were moments of real affection, no matter how fleeting. “We fell in love gradually,” Princess Diana told biographer Andrew Morton. “It wasn't really dramatic. One blink and it would have gone.”
But only one man has been called the "love of her life"—British Pakistani surgeon Hasnat Khan, whom Diana dated from 1995 to 1997.
Hasnat Khan, a Pakistani heart surgeon, and Princess Diana dated for two years, from 1995 to 1997. Diana reportedly described him as the "love of her life" to friends, and introduced him to her sons Prince William and Prince Harry.
The Queen thought Diana quite suitable for Charles. “She was very much a hit with the royal family—they really warmed to her,” Chernock says. “Diana worked very, very hard to ingratiate herself and to model what she thought being a princess would entail, and she did it very successfully.”
Who walked behind Diana's coffin? The funeral procession included William and Harry,Prince Charles andPrince Philip, as well as hundreds of representatives of the charities Diana had been involved with.
What were Princess Diana's last words? The firefighter on the scene of Princess Diana's accident revealed the last words she spoke before her death in an interview with The Independent. According to the firefighter, Xavier Gourmelon, the Princess of Wales asked: “My God, what has happened?”
It was worn for the first time to a 1994 dinner at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. The garment has been interpreted as having been worn by Diana "in revenge" for the televised admission of adultery by her husband Charles, then Prince of Wales.