Between Carlos and Camila, a love story that has lasted since the 70s

The bond between them is palpable. But while Charles and Camilla, now King of England and Queen Consort, are a visibly close and happy couple, their romance has had headwinds and they were unable to marry until 2005.

For them, it all started in 1970. It was at a polo match in Windsor that Charles, 22, met Camilla Shand, 24. The young woman would have slipped this good word to the Prince of Wales: “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-grandfather. That gives us something in common.”

Love at first sight is immediate, and they live an exciting love story. However, their love is impossible. “She was not from an aristocratic family, she was not beautiful enough and, above all, she was no longer a virgin”, evokes the British journalist Philip Turle, at the microphone of Céline Kallman in the podcast. the header.

Diana, ideal candidate

But life quickly separates them. Charles leaves to serve in the Royal Navy. Upon her return eight months later, Camilla became engaged to Andrew Parker Bowles, who was the lover of Princess Anne, Charles’s sister, and whom she married in 1973. They will have two sons, Thomas, born in 1974, of whom Charles is the godfather, and Laura, born in 1978.

It was in 1978 that the Prince of Wales met the young Diana Spencer, after dating her sister, Sarah. She was then only 17 years old. Unlike Camilla, the fresh young woman is the ideal candidate to marry the prince. They became engaged in February 1981 and were married on June 29 of the same year, in front of nearly a billion viewers. But very quickly, something is wrong with this fairy tale.

During a joint interview at the time of their engagement, the prince delivers this amazing answer to the question “are you in love?”, “What does it matter what meaning is given to the word ‘in love’.”

“It completely upset me. I thought ‘what a strange answer’. It traumatized me,” Diana will later say, in an interview broadcast by the documentary. Diana in her own words.

According to Stephen Barry’s book, The Diana Chroniclesduring their honeymoon, Charles calls Camilla every day.

talk dirty

The rest, we know, William and Harry were born in 1982 and in 1984, the relationship between Charles and Diana deteriorated, Diana was harassed by photographers. In 1989, a lewd phone conversation between Charles and Camilla was leaked to the tabloids.

In the now famous interview, which the princess grants to the BBC in 1995, journalist Martin Bashir points out that Prince Charles would have reconnected with Camilla as early as 1986 and asks Diana if she knew about it. “Yes, she was,” Diana replies, “but she wasn’t in a position to do anything about it.”

Then he launches this phrase that has become famous: “There were three of us in this marriage, it’s a bit too much.”

In 1989, a lewd phone conversation between Charles and Camilla was leaked to the tabloids. Charles and Diana finally separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. In 1997, the princess died in Paris, in a terrible car accident, chased by the paparazzi.

Hatred

Camilla divorced Andrew Parker Bowles in 1995. In 1997, shortly before Diana’s death, Charles threw Camilla’s 50th birthday party. But the British are not ready.

“Camilla was the woman responsible for Diana’s death. Camilla was a man disguised as a woman, Camilla was the devil,” British journalist Philip Turle recalls to BFMTV, referring to the rumors about him circulating at the time.

To get Camilla accepted by the media and change her image in the public eye, the Prince of Wales goes so far as to hire a communicator. The couple appeared together in public for the first time in 1999, and so the newspapers warned. The same year, they go on vacation with Princes William and Harry.

“Camilla is becoming a new product,” Marc Roche deciphered in May 2021 on the red line in charles.

“She is no longer the ex-lover, but the one that the prince should have married from the beginning and was not allowed to marry out of state duty. And she has this right to happiness.”

But they lack something important to finally experience their love: the approval of the Queen. She even tries to separate them, to no avail. Then he realizes Camilla’s beneficial role. The sovereign ends up accepting in 2000 an invitation to a birthday party at Highgrove, the prince’s residence, where Camilla is also present, which is worth the tacit acceptance of her former lover.

In 2003, Charles and Camilla moved into Clarence House, the official residence of the Prince of Wales, together. They married in 2005 and Camilla assumed the title of Duchess of Cornwall, carefully avoiding becoming Princess of Wales.

By dint of patience and commitment to causes that other members of the royal family did not want, Camilla won the hearts of the British. Without ever complaining or being harassed by photographers.

“Your greatest achievement is loving me”

Even today, even though they have been married for almost 20 years and have known each other for more than 50, Charles and Camilla continue to seem complicit and in love. “Your greatest achievement is loving me,” she had slipped him over the phone in 1989. And when we see Camilla, stoic next to Charles, cursing over a faulty pen, a few days ago, we say yes. a hell of work

“They have the same sense of humor, they laugh at the same things a lot. They love the outdoors in the country, they love horses. They have a lot in common,” royal correspondent Angela Levin told BFMTV.

Despite their busy schedules, Camilla tries to share a moment with her husband every day, if only to read a separate book in the same room. “She’s very relaxing,” she recently told the magazine. fashion, “because you know you don’t have to make conversation.” And if his life is in danger of being turned upside down, Charles can always count on the unwavering support of his “loved wife of his,” as he called her during his first King’s Speech.