On February 10, 2005, Prince
Charles announced an engagement to his longtime sweetheart, Camilla
Parker-Bowles. Their relationship began in the early 1970s, but Camilla did not
fit the royal family led by Elizabeth II as the wife of the heir to the throne.
Since then, they have
separated and reunited several times and experienced unhappy marriages, adultery,
ridicule and hatred of British society. But almost half a century later, it was
Elizabeth who put the final point in the recognition of Charles and Camilla’s
relationship. She announced that Camilla would officially receive
royal status as soon as Charles ascended the throne.
Before then, 23-year-old
Camilla was experiencing yet another betrayal of her lover, an officer of the
Royal Horse Guards, Andrew Parker-Bowles. They were rumored to have been
introduced by the prince’s ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the retired Chilean
ambassador, Lucia Santa Cruz, who decided that Charles and Camilla wouldn’t
mind a little fling.
Camilla actually did see the
relationship with Charles as a way to annoy Andrew at first, it wasn’t the
first time for her. Parker-Bowles also did not care and started an affair with Charles’s
younger sister, Princess Anne. But the prince really fell in love. He showered
Camilla with love letters and pestered her with long nightly phone calls.
Camilla was not like the girls
from Charles’s circle. Instead of dresses and shoes, she preferred riding
breeches and soldier’s boots, used almost no makeup, and never reached into her
pocket for a word. She and Charles also shared common hobbies — horses, dogs, and hunting.
They even liked the same
comedy radio shows. After all, in half a year, their affair turned into a
whirlwind romance. In November 1972, Charles was already thinking about asking
Camilla to marry him. But he could not dare, realizing that the royal family
would not approve of this union.
Today, some historians and
biographers say that the royal family could have avoided all further scandals
if they had immediately allowed the heir to the throne to marry Camilla.
