Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William, had a privileged upbringing, but it was also a very tough one, not least because they lost their beloved mother, Princess Diana, when they were both very young.
By that time, their father, then-Prince Charles, had engaged in an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Later, the two married – Camilla is set to become Queen in May.
It’s safe to say that Camilla and Harry have not been the best of friends over the years. Their reported feud goes back decades, and though Harry and his wife Meghan have left royal life, it appears he still has plenty of strong opinions on his stepmother.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Harry has lashed out at Camilla, accusing her of leaking stories about his family to the British media, among other things.
These days Camilla’s reputation with the British public has now greatly improved, but the reality is that her entrance into the Royal Family was more than just a tad controversial.
When news of her affair with Charles broke, it didn’t take long before a veritable media storm developed.
According to Prince Charles’ authorized biography, as quoted by Town & Country, their affair started in 1986. Charles was still married to Princess Diana then, and she found out about it.
In 1989, Diana confronted Camilla over the affair, telling her to back off.
“I know what’s going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that,” Camilla recalled Diana saying.
“[Diana] said to me: ‘You’ve got everything you ever wanted. You’ve got all the men in the world falling in love with you and you’ve got two beautiful children, what more do you want?’”
“So I said, ‘I want my husband.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry I’m in the way and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know what’s going on. Don’t treat me like an idiot,’” Diana said, as per Camilla.
Things continued as usual, at least from the public’s perspective. But it wasn’t long before Charles and Diana’s fairytale life was over. In 1992, the couple announced their separation, though both continued with their official royal duties. Four years later, in August of 1996, they reached a final agreement for the divorce.
By that stage, things had already reached the ears of the public regarding Charles’s relationship with Camilla.
Harry and Camilla’s relationship
The public had a hard time accepting that Charles and Diana had divorced. Another person reportedly felt the same way as Queen Elizabeth herself.
In 2018, investigative author and journalist Tom Bower claimed that, at first, the Queen didn’t want any interaction with Camilla.
At the time of Diana’s passing, there was an ongoing campaign to “introduce” Charles and Camilla’s relationship to the public. However, that was abandoned in the wake of Diana’s passing.
Prince Charles and Camilla continued steadily building their image as a couple. The now-Queen Consort even met Prince William in 1998 and, of course, Prince Harry too.
Camilla and Harry’s relationship has had its fair share of drama, and things reportedly remain strenuous today. With the release of his memoir, Spare, Harry has made that clear beyond all doubt.
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