When it comes to Charles and Camilla, there were and are two camps. Some find that the love story between the two is the only truly romantic one. Because today we know: Actually, Charles only ever had feelings for Camilla, even when he was married to Princess Diana. For those who don’t see it that way, Camilla is still the “other woman,” the nasty affair that caused Charles and Di to break up.
And so on May 6th some will be touched and others will not be able to avoid thinking a little angry about the past. Regardless of which camp you belong to, one thing is clear: the development of soon-queen Camilla is remarkable.
As late as the 1990s, Camilla Parker Bowles became one of the most hated women in the world. The dislike for the married Camilla took on almost infinite proportions when a secretly recorded telephone conversation between her and then-Prince Charles gave an insight into their affair. “I want to feel you everywhere, up and down, in and out. The problem is that I need you several times a week,” whispered a completely lovestruck Charles in the phone. “Oh, that’s just what I need,” the affair replied. That only made the married Charles even crazier, who said he wanted to “live in her pants.” “What do you want to turn into? Panties? Oh, so you come back as panties,” Camilla joked, and Charles responded with a phrase that would stay with him for years to come: “Or, God forbid, a tampon. That would match my happiness again.” Tampon-Gate was born and one of the biggest royal scandals of the 1990s.
And although Charles and Camilla did not exactly act with integrity in their affair, we now know that the marriage between the heir to the throne and Diana did not just break up because of this. She had been doomed from the start.
And despite this, Camilla could not get rid of the image of the adulteress for a long time. She was called Rottweiler, an unflattering nickname given to her by Princess Diana herself. Not the only animal Parker Bowles has been equated with. For years she was compared to horses, and jokes of this kind can still be found on social networks today. And she has always stood in the shadow of the iconic Princess Diana – a shadow she never really came out of. When Diana died tragically in 1997, hatred for Camilla only increased. She was the enemy of many, a woman who should never be queen.
But Camilla proved early on that – in addition to the love of Charles – she has another advantage over Diana: she works better in the royal family institution. Since the marriage of the two in 2005, she has been an integral part of the family. The fact that Prince William and Prince Harry in particular had a problem with this did not seem to bother them much.
Unlike Diana, who was considered quick-tempered, Camilla is calmer and has had Charles’ back for years. “I would endure anything for you. That’s love. That’s the power of love,” she told Charles in the Tampon Gate call. A credo that she apparently adheres to. Whether it’s public ridicule or family dislike, Camilla stands by her husband’s side.
And Camilla has perfected something else: image work. In his autobiography “Spare”, Prince Harry mentions PR consultants who are always at Camilla’s side. If you believe him, Camilla sacrificed her stepsons for her own image. At several points in his book, he describes how she allegedly punched through stories that cast Harry (and, at times, William) in a bad light, only to position herself positively with the press in return. So Harry shouldn’t be too happy about Camilla becoming queen.
May 6th sees the grand finale of a love story that began many decades ago. Or the last act in the triumph of a ruthless affair – it all depends on who you ask.
Those: “Spare”
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