It’s a love story that has finally had a happy ending. But along the way, there’s been heartbreak, scandal, and more twists and turns than a Netflix drama.
Now, as King Charles and Queen Camilla finally celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary, His Majesty is thanking his lucky stars that he’s able to spend the latter part of his life with the woman who not only makes him very happy, but is proving to be an excellent queen to his king.
The King is very grateful to have Camilla in his life and could not imagine being monarch without her by his side, says royal biographer Christopher Wilson. She soothes him in a way that no one else can.
“Her presence reassures him. Despite all of the trappings of majesty, it’s cold and lonely at the top. It’s easy to see the comfort she provides him.”
“I think Camilla has transformed Charles,” adds royal writer Penny Junor. “He is happier with her than he has ever been. She gives him confidence and the support that he has so desperately needed throughout his life. He never really truly found that elsewhere.”
When he became King following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, in 2022, Charles spoke about how he’d be counting on “the loving help of my darling wife Camilla. I know she will bring to the demands of her new role the steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much.”
Camilla, 77, has not only lived up to those expectations, but exceeded them with the way she soldiered on last year after Charles, 76, was sidelined following his unexpected cancer diagnosis. In an incredible show of strength, she visited a cancer clinic in London and talked to patients about what they were going through.
“She undertook that visit knowing the King had cancer, yet did not show the slightest flicker of vulnerability – despite what she knew,” says an aide.
Putting on a brave face, even once the King returned to work, albeit while still having ongoing treatment, was a sign of how dedicated to duty she is. “It was exhausting,” reveals the aide. “It would have been draining for a woman half her age. But the good thing is it has given the world the chance to see some of the work she’d always been doing with greater interest and clarity.”
Charles is only too aware that some people think Camilla should not be Queen, because of the hurt their affair caused his first wife, Princess Diana. After their illicit relationship was revealed, Camilla became the most reviled woman in Britain. That hatred simply escalated after Diana’s death.
However, attitudes towards her have gradually changed. Today, the public mainly accept her in her role – something that would have been unthinkable two decades ago.
Royal photographer Arthur Edwards says Camilla has won over so many people thanks to her hard work. Some of which includes supporting causes like improving literacy and raising awareness of sexual and domestic violence. “She just put her head down and got on with it. She has more than 200 patronages, she’s tireless. But the most important thing is that people can see that she supports Charles and she never hogs any of the limelight.
“She makes him laugh, and he’s just a much happier person now.”
Having to wait so long to find their happy ever after makes them very appreciative of each other, says a member of the royal household. “There was a time when they thought they would never get to be together. So, the fact they can be now is a kind of a modern fairytale.”
The pair instantly felt attracted when they first met. Camilla was 24, and 22-year-old Charles was the world’s most eligible bachelor. At the time, Camilla was in the “off” phase of an on-off relationship with army officer Andrew Parker Bowles, so she started dating Charles.
The relationship became so intense the Prince of Wales’ friends expected him to pop the question. However, he didn’t get around to telling Camilla how strongly he felt about her before the Navy deployed him at the end of 1972. When he returned from sea eight months later, Camilla had become engaged to Andrew.
Her friends say she felt convinced she wasn’t suitable royal bride material, thanks to having a “past”, and saw her future with Andrew. However, she and Charles remained friends, even when he married Diana. According to several sources, they began an affair in 1986. They separated from their other halves in the early 90s, and Camilla, who’d managed to stay out of the limelight, was shockingly named as “the other woman” in the explosive book Diana: Her True Story.
By the mid-90s, a subtle campaign was in place to get the public to warm to Camilla and see that she was the woman Charles truly loved. That was put on hold after Diana’s death. Still, gradually, they began making public appearances together. Even Charles’ mother, the Queen, who initially wouldn’t even be in the same room as “that woman,” became won over.
They announced their engagement in February 2005, and married two months later, on April 9. At 57, Camilla found herself starting a whole new career as a member of the royal family and getting used to life in the spotlight. She never wanted to be famous, she just wanted to be with the man she loved.
Charles relies on Camilla for stability, warmth, and “all the emotional stuff that he didn’t get as a child. He couldn’t give her up.”
Adds Tom, “It’s a very romantic story. They didn’t give up on each other.”
The secret to a happy marriage
One of the reasons Charles and Camilla have a successful marriage is that the pair – who spent so many years apart – give each other space, says Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine.
Camilla will often retreat to Ray Mill House, the home she bought after her divorce. Meanwhile, Charles is 15 minutes away at his country home, Highgrove.
“Ray Mill House is Camilla’s release from royal life,” says Ingrid. “She goes every weekend when she can and during the summer to spend time with her children and grandchildren.
“It’s getting away from the restrictions of the security and being surrounded by staff and people doing things for you. I think she needed somewhere where she could actually relax and just be herself, not constantly monitored, and slope around in dirty jeans if she wanted.”
Charles and Camilla’s relationship timeline
1970
The Prince of Wales first meets Camilla Shand at a polo match.
1981
After a whirlwind courtship, he marries the 8th Earl Spencer’s daughter Lady Diana Spencer.
1986
Charles allegedly begins an affair with Camilla.
1991
The public first becomes aware of Camilla’s link to Charles in a US newspaper story. The following year Andrew Morton’s book Diana: Her True Story exposes their affair.
1993
Just weeks after the announcement of Diana and Charles’ seperation, a newspaper publishes leaked transcripts of an intimate phone call between Charles and Camilla.
1995
Camilla divorces Andrew. The following year, Charles and Diana finalise their divorce. A year after that, a car crash tragically kills Diana.
1999
Photographers capture Charles and Camilla together for the first time, leaving a party for Camilla’s sister at The Ritz hotel.
2000
The Queen attends a birthday party for King Constantine of Greece at Charles’ home, Highgrove, knowing Camilla will be there. It is the first time they meet.
2005
Charles and Camilla marry on April 9 in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. A blessing at St George’s Chapel follows.
2022
As she marks her Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth announces that when Charles becomes King, she wants Camilla to take the title of Queen Consort.
2023
Following the death of Elizabeth II in 2022, Charles III and Queen Camilla are crowned at Westminster Abbey.
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