Camilla Parker Bowles Always Thought of Herself as the ‘Heiress’ of Her Great-Grandmother Alice Keppel — Who Was Also the Mistress of a King
Camilla Parker Bowles, Queen Consort, is now the wife of the United Kingdom’s monarch, King Charles III. But decades ago, she was the mistress of then-Prince Charles when he was married to Princess Diana. Surprisingly, Camilla wasn’t the first woman in the family to have an affair with a royal. Her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was the mistress of King Edward VII.
Camilla Parker Bowles always thought of herself as the heiress of Alice Keppel
Christopher Anderson, the author of the upcoming book The King: The Life of Charles III, recently revealed that Kate Middleton had to work hard to prove herself worthy of marrying into the royal family. Per Express, Camilla was “not sold on Kate” from the beginning because she was a “true commoner.”
“Camilla, for all of her earthiness and loving country life and fox hunting and gardening, she is an aristocrat. She is a bit of a snob,” Anderson told Podcast Royal. “[Kate was] not the kind of person that would have been suitable in Camilla’s eyes for a future Queen.”
Anderson also claimed that Camilla was behind Kate’s temporary split from Prince William in 2007.
“She’s an aristocrat; she has always been moving in royal circles,” the author explained. “She had always thought of herself as the heiress to Alice Keppel, her great-grandmother, who was the mistress of Edward VII.”
The king and queen consort’s great-great grandparents had an affair
Decades before Charles and Camilla had an affair, their great-great-grandparents did the exact same thing starting in the late 1890s. Camilla’s great-great-grandmother Alice was born into a high-ranking family, and she married a British Royal officer, Lieutenant-Colonel George Keppel, when she was 23.
According to Town & Country, Alice was a “renowned beauty with chestnut hair, a pale complexion, large blue eyes, a small waist, and a large chest,” which made her quite popular in Edwardian society.
When Alice and George married, they became part of London’s top social circles. They hosted parties, and she started having affairs with the goal of moving up the social ladder. That’s how Alice met Prince Albert Edward in 1898 when he was 56 and she was 29.
Their affair lasted for 12 years — through his coronation as King Edward VII — and only ended when he died in 1910.
Camilla Parker Bowles was proud of her connection to the king’s mistress
Despite her lengthy affair with the king, Alice had a happy marriage with George. He also had affairs but reportedly said that he didn’t care about the infidelity in his marriage as long as “she comes back to me in the end.”
The king gave Alice shares in a rubber company (equal to about $7 million today), created endowments for her, and promoted George to a high-paying job. Alice was also friends with the Queen Consort Alexandra of Denmark and would often pick out gifts for her. The ladies were at the end of an era where royal mistresses were considered an acceptable role in court.
Anderson says that Camilla was “very proud” of her connection to Keppel, and she “boasted” about it when she was a child. As an adult, he says Camilla “intended to be part of the royal circle in the role of mistress to the future king, and then the king.”
