'The Crown' Season 4: Will the series delve into the real love story of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles?
Love transcends time. The royal romance of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles is an exemplar of that thought as their bond grew stronger through the years. Much before the Prince of Wales exchanged vows with Princess Diana Spencer in 1981, he was smitten with Camilla (then Shand) whom he met in the early '70s. Despite the infamy, scandals, trials, and tribulations, the two survived the storms and kept their love alive to finally get married in 2005.
The early romance was kept on the hush-hush as per the BBC when the pair met in 1970 at a polo match in Windsor Great Park. People, however, have a different side of the tale. "When she met the Prince at a party in 1972, Camilla Shand, then a 25-year-old postdeb living in London, told him sassily, "My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common."
There was an instant spark and the two became good friends, with nicknames for each other, Fred and Gladys. The Royal Family never saw her as an apt match for Charles even with their growing closeness. The palace, including Charles' favorite uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten, made it clear that Camilla wouldn't have been their selection. "I think it is disturbing for women to have experiences if they have to remain on a pedestal after marriage", Mountbatten wrote to Charles. Prince Charles joined the Royal Navy in 1971 and never really confessed his true feelings to her despite beginning to date her.
He failed to propose before returning to sea in February 1973 and during his absence, Camilla became close to Andrew Parker-Bowles. A longstanding admirer, he first saw her at a party in 1965 and asked her for a dance. The on-and-off relationship continued for a while until Andrew allegedly began an affair with Princess Anne, according to author Penny Junor's book, 'The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown.'
During that period, Camilla met Prince Charles but once he left for sea, she rekindled her romance with Andrew and the two exchanged vows on July 4, 1973. The two had two children, daughter Laura Parker Bowles and son Tom Parker Bowles. On the other hand, Charles met 16-year-old Diana in 1977 when he was introduced by her sister Lady Sarah Spencer. The Guardian quoted her as "former girlfriend" of Charles, who said: "I introduced them. I'm Cupid."
Following her engagement to Charles in 1981, Diana spoke about their "first meeting" in an interview, "It was 1977, Charles came to stay. He was a friend of my sister Sarah's. [He came] for a [hunting] shoot. We sort of met in a plowed field." A few months later, the two married in a Royal wedding ceremony on July 29. The two had a 12-year age difference and apparently, that too contributed to the gap between them. The pair gave birth to two children, William and Harry.
Rumors say that, in 1986, Prince Charles restarted his affair with Camilla. In a 1995 interview for BBC One's Panorama, Diana famously said, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded." Reportedly, she even confronted Camilla about the affair and a tape of their conversation was leaked, leading to a controversial scandal for the royal family.
In a TV documentary, Charles almost admitted to the affair and said, "She has been a friend for a very long time — and will continue to be a friend for a very long time." It greatly affected both, Charles and Camilla's marriages, as the two couples filed for a divorce through the years 1995 and 1996. A tragic incident rocked the Royal Family when 36-year-old Diana lost her life in an accident on August 31, 1997, in Paris.
The next year, Charles introduced his children to Camilla and in 1999, the couple were first officially photographed as a couple at the birthday party of Camilla's sister at the Ritz in London. The Royal Family was still against the pair's decision to get married and it was only in the year 2000 that Queen Elizabeth II accepted an invitation to the King Constantine of Greece's 60th birthday party at Charles's residence and agreed to meet Camilla.
Five years later, Charles and Camilla got married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on April 9, 2005, that was followed by an official blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. Even with all the scandals, ups and downs, tabloid drama and marriage conflicts, the two managed to stick to each other since the very beginning and ended up forming a strong bond. Will the Netflix show paint the real love story of the pair or show a one-sided representation of the couple's affair?
Catch all ten episodes of ‘The Crown’ Season 4 once they drop on November 15, 2020 on Netflix.