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These days, royal fans and experts have honed in on Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex with a laser focus. However, their decision to leave the British royal family is hardly scandalous. Certainly, it’s nowhere near as alarming as Prince Andrew’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein or the things the royals have faced in the past.

In fact, it wasn’t too long ago, that Prince Charles the future Crowned King was embroiled in scandal following his affair with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. At the time, the Prince of Wales and the future Queen Consort were married to Princess Diana and Andrew Parker Bowles respectively. The news of the affair shattered the royal family’s image forever.

While the prince and the duchess bore the brunt of the shame and vitriol following their affair, the Duchess of Cornwall’s ex-husband was also ridiculed.

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles tried to keep their affair a secret

Initially, the prince and Camilla had met and dated in the 1970s. Prince Charles was immediately taken by the vivacious Camilla, who was unlike any woman he’d ever met.  “The duchess was not in any way overawed by him, not fawning or sycophantic,” royal biographer Penny Juror wrote in The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown.

Unfortunately, their romance was shortlived. The duchess was seen as an unsuitable match for the future King since she was not virginal. Instead, while Prince Charles was away with the Royal Navy, she married her on-again, off-again beau, Parker Bowles.

However, by the mid-1980s the pair found their way back to one another romantically. In an effort to keep their affair under wraps, the prince often ditched his security. The dup would use the duchess’ young sister, Annabel Elliot’s country estate in the Dorset village of Stourpaine for their liaisons.

Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles were shamed in the media when their affair was made public

As we all know, secrets never stay buried. Though Princess Diana had long suspected Prince Charles and Camilla were having an affair, it was made public in 1992 when a leaked phone call between the lovers hit the press.

During the phone conversation, Prince Charles quipped that wanted to “live inside [Camilla’s] trousers as a pair of knickers” or, “a Tampax.” The Prince and Princess of Wales were finally allowed to separate before eventually divorcing in 1996.

Camilla Shand and Captain Andrew Parker Bowles outside the Guards' Chapel on their wedding day
Camilla Shand and Captain Andrew Parker Bowles outside the Guards’ Chapel on their wedding day | Frank Barratt/Keystone/Getty Images
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Camilla Parker Bowles’ friends mocked her ex-husband following her affair with Prince Charles

The royal family was hit like a freight train when the affair went public, with people lambasting the prince for cheating on Princess Diana. For her part, Camilla was left virtually unprotected. She had to be whisked away from her home when paparazzi and the media decided upon it. Parker Bowles, an Army Officer was also mocked.

“Since the Prince’s tendresse for his wife became world news, Parker-Bowles’s friends have taken to calling him ‘Ernest’ in playful memory of Wallis Simpson’s long-suffering spouse,” royal commentator Anthony Holden wrote for Vanity Fair in 1993.

Thankfully, everyone has moved on from this drama.

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