King Charles and Queen Camilla’s love story has been quite a rollercoaster ride, to say the least. They first met more than 50 years ago, before their relationship was quashed and they married other people – Charles wed Princess Diana while Camilla tied the knot with Andrew Parker Bowles.
Despite everything, Charles and Camilla’s love for each other remained strong. They rekindled their romance, first illicitly, before making their official debut as a couple in 1997 after Diana’s death. More than 35 years after they met, Charles and Camilla became husband and wife, before they were crowned King and Queen in 2022.
Here’s a timeline of Charles and Camilla’s relationship…
1970: Prince Charles and Camilla meet
Charles and Camilla Shand, then 23, met at a polo match at Windsor Great Park, where they were introduced by a mutual friend Lucia Santa Cruz in 1970. It was love at first sight for the 21-year-old prince. ‘He loved the fact that she smiled with her eyes as well as her mouth, and laughed at the same silly things as he did,’ author Penny Junor wrote in The Duchess: The Untold Story. ‘He also liked that she was so natural and easy and friendly, not in any way overawed by him, not fawning or sycophantic. In short, he was very taken with her and after that first meeting, he began ringing her up.’
Camilla apparently joked that her great-grandmother had had an affair with King Edward VII. ‘My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common,’ she said.
1971: Prince Charles and Camilla split
External pressures forced Charles and Camilla to break up, after just six months together. He joined the Royal Navy in 1971 and his time away put a pause on their blossoming romance. Camilla – who was in an on-off relationship with British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles, an ex-boyfriend of Charles’ sister Princess Anne – decided to pursue this more seriously after her split from Charles.
Charles and Camilla’s relationship was also frowned upon because Camilla didn’t apparently meet the royal requirements for marrying the future king, as she had a dating history, and didn’t have an aristocratic bloodline, despite being the daughter of British Army officer Bruce Shand.
1972: Prince Charles realises Camilla is his ‘soulmate’
Ahead of Charles’ deployment to the Caribbean for eight months, he took Camilla to Portsmouth to see his ship. That was when he realised that he had strong feelings for her. Biographer Robert Lacey said, ‘That was the moment when he first realised for sure he wanted to marry Camilla, that she was his life’s soulmate. But he did not have the courage to tell her properly or strongly enough.’
1973: Camilla marries Andrew Parker Bowles
While Charles was in the Caribbean serving in the Royal Navy, Camilla got engaged to Andrew in March 1973. Andrew had faced mounting pressure to wed and settle down, after a six-year on-and-off relationship. ‘Camilla was very much in love with him. Her parents were very keen that Andrew should marry her,’ Andrew’s cousin John Bowes Lyon told royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, author of Prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes Of An Improbable Life.
The couple married at the Guards Chapel in London on 4 July 1943, followed by a reception at St James’s Palace. The Queen Mother, Princess Anne and Princess Margaret were wedding guests.
Charles was devastated. ‘I suppose this feeling of emptiness will pass eventually,’ he wrote to his mentor Lord Mountbatten. Junor wrote, ‘It seemed to him particularly cruel, he wrote in one letter, that after “such a blissful, peaceful and mutually happy relationship”, fate had decreed that it should last a mere six months.’
Despite his broken heart, he and Camilla remained good friends. He was even named godfather to Camilla and Andrew’s son Thomas.
1978-1979: Prince Charles and Camilla begin an affair
Unable to contain their feelings for one another, Charles and Camilla rekindled their romance, with Camilla’s husband Andrew reportedly aware of what was going on. ‘Andrew was in no position to complain; and when he discovered what was going on, he wisely didn’t make a fuss,’ Junor wrote. ‘Some would say that a part of him actually quite enjoyed the fact that his wife was sleeping with the future King; he might have felt differently had Charles been a travelling salesman.’
1980: Prince Charles starts dating Princess Diana
Charles, then 29, began officially courting Diana Spencer in 1980, three years after they met. They had been introduced when she was 16 by her elder sister Sarah Spencer, who he had briefly dated. ‘It was 1977. Charles came to stay as a friend of my sister Sarah for a shoot. We sort of met in a plowed field,’ Diana recalled to the BBC. ‘[He was] pretty amazing.’
Charles added, ‘I remember thinking what a very jolly and amusing and attractive 16-year-old she was. I mean, great fun, and bouncy and full of life and everything.’
1981: Prince Charles marries Princess Diana
After 13 dates, Charles proposed to Diana in February 1981. They married on 29 July 1981 in a lavish event dubbed the ‘wedding of the century’. Camilla was a guest at the nuptials at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, with her son Tom Parker Bowles.
‘I remember being so in love with my husband that I couldn't take my eyes off him,’ Diana told biographer Andrew Morton. ‘I just absolutely thought I was the luckiest girl in the world. He was going to look after me.’
1986: Prince Charles and Camilla’s affair continues
Despite being married to other people and being parents, Charles and Camilla can’t stay away from each other and they reportedly began seeing one another again in 1986. Diana once confronted Camilla over their affair.
‘I was terrified of her… I said, “I know what's going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that”,’ Diana said, according to Morton in Diana: Her True Story. ‘She said to me, “You've got everything you ever wanted. All the men in the world fall in love with you and you've got two beautiful children, what more would you want?” I said, “I want my husband”.’ Diana added, ‘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.’
1992: Prince Charles and Princess Diana separate
Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their split on 9 December 1992.
1993: Recordings of Prince Charles and Camilla’s private calls are leaked
On 17 January 1993, transcripts of audio recordings of Prince Charles and Camilla’s personal calls from 1989 were published in the papers. This sent shockwaves through the Palace in a scandal known as ‘Camillagate’.
‘I’d suffer anything for you. That’s love. It’s the strength of love,’ she told him.
In a line that he’d never live down, Charles told his lover that he wished he could be a tampon so that he could live inside her.
1994: Prince Charles admits to cheating on Princess Diana
After his affair with Camilla was exposed, Charles opened up to being adulterous in a TV interview in June 1994. Asked if he tried to be ‘faithful and honourable’ to Princess Diana, he said, ‘Yes… until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.’
He said of Camilla, ‘Mrs Parker Bowles is a great friend of mine… a friend for a very long time. She will continue to be a friend for a very long time.’
1995: Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles divorce
Seven months after Charles’ admission of infidelity, in January 1995, Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles announced their separation. ‘Throughout our marriage we have always tended to follow rather different interests, but in recent years we have led completely separate lives,’ they said in a joint statement. Their divorce was finalised in two months later in March.
1995: Camilla and Prince Charles resume romance
The newly single Camilla and Prince Charles, who was still legally married, began seeing each other – although they were careful not to be seen together in public. She was seen joining Charles at Balmoral in September and at his Highgrove country home. The pair attended a party for their mutual friend Lady Sarah Keswick in October 1995. While they arrived separately, they reportedly danced together for two hours.
1996: Charles and Diana’s divorce is finalised
Diana agreed to Charles’ request for a divorce in February 1996, and they reached a settlement in July. The divorce was finalised on 28 August 1996.
1998: Camilla and Prince Charles get serious
After Diana’s death in August 1997, Charles and Camilla’s relationship became more serious and they started to take steps to become official. Charles spoke to his mother about welcoming his girlfriend into the royal family – however, the Queen was said to be unhappy about her son’s relationship with his former mistress, who she reportedly called ‘that wicked woman’.
Charles’ eldest son Prince William met his father’s girlfriend when he stopped by at the Palace ‘unexpectedly’ in June 1998. William and Camilla met twice for lunch and tea over the next month.
1999: Prince Charles and Camilla make their public debut as a couple
Charles and Camilla stepped out as a couple at a birthday party for Camilla’s sister Annabel Elliot at London’s Ritz Hotel in January 1999. Camilla arrived first, with her partner arriving later, but the pair left together, with a huge crowd of waiting photographers.
2000: The Queen acknowledges Charles and Camilla’s relationship
In 2000, the Queen attended a lunch with Prince Charles and Camilla. Her presence, with this small gesture, signified her subtle approval of the couple.
2002: Camilla’s royal role grows
While she was yet to be an official royal, Camilla’s profile gradually increased this year. She attended public events with Prince Charles, including the Queen Mother’s funeral in April, and held her first solo speaking engagement for the National Osteoporosis Society.
2003: Prince Charles and Camilla move in together
Prince Charles and Camilla moved into Clarence House, in the next step of their relationship.
2005: Prince Charles and Camilla are engaged – and married
Prince Charles and Camilla announced their engagement on 10 February 2005, with the future heir saying that they are ‘absolutely delighted’. His sons, Princes William and Harry, said, ‘We are both very happy for our father and Camilla, and we wish them all the luck in the future.’
Charles and Camilla married on 9 April 2005, with a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. Prince Philip and the Queen didn’t attend the ceremony but joined the newlyweds for a blessing at St George’s Chapel and the reception. Camilla received the title Duchess of Cornwall after the wedding.
2017: Camilla opens up about backlash
Camilla spoke about how difficult it was to cope with the public scrutiny and vitriol she faced during her affair with Prince Charles. ‘I couldn’t really go anywhere. It was horrid. It was a deeply unpleasant time and I wouldn’t want to put my worst enemy through it,’ she said.
2020: Prince Charles and Camilla celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary
The couple – who had kept their romance quite low-key, showing their strength and enduring love – recreated their engagement announcement photo for their 15th wedding anniversary. They posed by their Birkhall Home in Scotland with Camilla’s Jack Russell terriers.
2022: Camilla becomes Queen Consort
This year saw Camilla endorsed officially by the Queen. She was appointed to the Order of the Garter, the most senior order of knighthood, and Queen Elizabeth expressed her wish that Camilla be the future Queen Consort. In September, after the Queen’s death, Camilla officially took on the role as she took the throne next to Charles. ‘I know she will bring to the demands of her new role the steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much,’ King Charles said.
2023: Charles and Camilla are crowned King and Queen
On 6 May 2023, Charles and Camilla are crowned King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey. She became the first Queen Consort to be crowned in England since King George VI’s coronation in 1937. Charles issued a Royal Warrant to change his wife’s title from Queen Consort to Queen.
2024: King Charles diagnosed with cancer
On 5 February 2024, Buckingham Palace announced that the monarch had been diagnosed with cancer, a week after he was treated for benign prostate enlargement. After three months in recovery, King Charles resumed his royal duties, with his beloved Camilla by his side.
Ahead of their 30th wedding anniversary in 2025, Charles and Camilla appear stronger than ever. ‘Diana was absolutely right to tell me that Camilla was “loyal” and that Charles's love for Camilla was stronger than any marriage he might ever have made,’ said former royal correspondent Jennie Bond.