Skip To...
Queen Camilla, infamously dubbed the royal “homewrecker” following Princess Diana’s shocking revelations in her Panorama interview is clawing her way into Kate Middleton’s marriage. Camilla, married to the king of the UK and the Commonwealth has an overhanging reputation for being “the third person” in Diana and Charles’ short-lived, “overcrowded” marriage. Decades after his mom’s BBC revelations, Prince Harry added the final blow to the infidelity speculations, namedropping Camilla as the third person his mom referred to, ultimately having a ripple effect on his relationship with the monarchy.
Prince Harry’s brother, and his wife, Kate Middleton do not appear to share Harry’s aversion to his parent’s supposed “homewrecker,” Queen Camilla. In fact, the Queen consort has forged a bond with Kate since her 2011 marriage to the British royal family. While their relationship dynamic is somewhat complicated, as appears to be the royal family’s modus operandi, the duo has hit it off on some level, leveraging on their positions as senior royals and working members of the royal family, married to men with strong ties to the throne.
Prince Camilla Claws Her Way Into the Princess of Wales’ Marriage Again
This monarchial connection is exactly what informed Queen Camilla’s indispensable marriage advice to Kate Middleton despite her “tainted” reputation. Journalist Richard Eden recently revealed that the Queen consort offered Kate advice on sustaining her marriage to a busy prince, having successfully done so herself for over two decades. Apparently, the Princess of Wales has adhered to that advice, remaining a backbone and a supportive presence in Prince William’s life without overly outshining him. Riding on the words of royal biographer Robert Lacey, Richard shared,
“Camilla had confided to Kate that the secret of hanging on to a busy Prince is to fit your timetable well basically your whole life around his. Katherine obviously took that advice and helped make William the happy prince he is today.”
While said advice may have worked for the Wales couple, a royal insider thinks the whole thing “ironic” and “laughable.” They highlighted how Queen Camilla’s reputation as a homewrecker would water down any good her contribution to Kate Middleton’s marriage. The insider divulged,
“I can only imagine royal staff’s ironic smirks when they heard about this.”
This “imagined” reaction from royal staffers isn’t farfetched given the damaging impact of Queen Camilla and King Charles’ infidelity on Princess Diana’s royal marriage. Even more so, as the Queen’s relationship with Prince Williams wasn’t always rosy. According to reports, their first interactions happened on shaky grounds, with Camilla commenting that “The boy’s got a temper” after their first meeting in 1998, Richard explained. That meeting happened about a year after Princess Diana’s passing.
Queen Camilla Took Her Own Advice Decades Before Kate Middleton
Expectedly, Diana’s sons, William and Harry would not exactly be receptive to a woman perceived as “the third person” in their parents’ marriage. Yet, somehow, Camilla survived not only her prince charming, but also his two royal sons, cementing her position in the monarchy in the last two decades and counting. This proves just how much her advice to Kate helped her through her royal journey, something Princess Diana struggled to accomplish. One could say this approach to “hanging on to a busy prince” proves the disparity between the two women.
On one hand, was Princess Diana, known for her strong will and free spirit and has been described as intuitive and impulsive which endeared her to the public often to the disapproval of the monarchy. On the other hand, Queen Camilla took on the monarchy by presenting herself as a woman willing to “dim her light” and sacrifice it all for her prince charming, regardless of public opinion. Considering these differing personalities in the very conservative monarchial era, it appears Princess Diana never stood a chance.
