So It Turns Out Charles and Camilla Met Through His Ex-Girlfriend
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After several decades full of scandal, something harrowing called tampongate, and a full blown affair that ruined two (2) marriages, King Charles and Queen Camilla are finally together and casually, like, ruling England. Life comes at you fast! And while their relationship timeline is truly a wild ride, the story of how they met is equally scandalous. Mostly due to a love square involving Charles's sister Princess Anne 🙃. Let's get into this royal saga.
Charles and Camilla Met Through Charles's Ex-Girlfriend
According to Sarah Bradford's book Diana, Charles was 23 when he met Queen Camilla (then known as Camilla Shand), and they were introduced through his "university girlfriend Lucia Santa Cruz."
Bradford's book describes Camilla as "a pretty, witty, confident blonde," while an unnamed friend told the author she had "great sexual power." Meanwhile, a courtier said she was "quite a little goer at fifteen and well organized by her mother." Kay!
Anyway, Camilla was very amused that her great-grandmother was the mistress of Charles's great-great-grandfather (aka King Edward VII) and said as much after they met, musing, "My great-grandmother was your great-great-grandfather's mistress..."
Hot stuff! Can definitely see why these two got together!
They First Met at a Polo Match
The year? 1970. The place? Smith's Lawn polo ground in Windsor Great Park, where Bradford writes "most of" Charles's romances began." Apparently, he and Camilla had an "instantaneous" rapport, which was encouraged by Charles's mentor Lord Mountbatten, who "saw Camilla as ideal mistress material." 🙄 to that statement, but moving on.
Camilla Was in Love With Someone Else
While Camilla and Charles were obviously into each other, there were some complications. First off all, Lord "Cannot Mind My Own Business" Mountbatten didn't think Camilla was aristocratic enough to be a royal bride. But also, she was fully in love with Andrew Parker Bowles and had been dating him on and off since 1967—even though he was said to have cheated on her constantly. And on top of all that, Andrew was allegedly having an affair with Charles's sister Princess Anne.
Sarah Bradford spoke about the love square to a friend of Camilla's who recalled, "I can remember the triangle when Andrew Parker Bowles was there. Princess Anne was in love with Parker Bowles, Camilla was in love with Andrew, Charles was in love with Camilla, Camilla was having some of it but she was also potty about Andrew—and all this intrigue was going on."
As we all know, Camilla ended up marrying Andrew Parker Bowles—but she and Charles never stopped being into each other. Take the Cirencester Polo Ball in 1980. As one of Charles's exes tells Bradford:
"Charles spent the whole evening with Camilla. Charles and the Parker Bowlses shared the same table, and Charles spent the whole evening dancing with Camilla. They were kissing passionately as they danced—on and on they went, kissing each other, French kissing, dance after dance."
(Andrew wasn't bothered by this, apparently, because he had "other fish to fry" and was flattered that his wife was hooking up with a future King).
Point is: the vibes were passionate well after Camilla married. And, as we all know, they continued to remain passionate well after Charles married Princess Diana in 1981. By which I mean he and Camilla carried out a pretty notorious affair that you can read all about right! this! way!
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