King Charles III’s Ex-Girlfriend Introduced Him to Camilla Parker Bowles
Most royal family watchers know the story of how King Charles III and Camilla Parker Bowles met. However, one fact that may not be as widely known is that Charles’ ex-girlfriend introduced the couple. This introduction set him and Camilla on a path that would upend the monarchy and ultimately lead to a 2005 marriage.
How did Camilla and Charles meet?
Charles and Camilla met for the first time at a polo match. People Magazine reported Parker Bowles first said to Charles, “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common.” That comment began a personal relationship until Charles left on assignment with the royal navy.
According to author Penny Junor, per Vanity Fair, Charles’s great-uncle Lord Mountbatten, disapproved of the relationship since Camilla was not a virgin nor aristocratic enough. Therefore he encouraged Charles to end the union.
The couple went their separate ways romantically, and Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973. Charles continued to look for lasting love and a future queen, marrying Diana Spencer in 1981. However, the longtime friends remained very close. Their relationship culminated in an affair despite both being married to other people.
Following Diana’s death in Aug. 1997, Charles and Camilla waited a year to make their relationship public. The couple moved into Clarence House in 2003. In 2005, they wed at a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall.
King Charles III’s ex-girlfriend introduced the couple
According to Sarah Bradford’s book Diana, Charles and then-Camilla Shand were introduced via his university girlfriend Lucia Santa Cruz, the daughter of the Chilean ambassador in London, Victor Santa Cruz. She spoke four languages and already had degrees from Kings College, London, and St. Antony’s College, Oxford.
Charles and Lucia met at a dinner party organized by Lord Butler in 1969 when both were students at Trinity College Cambridge, reported the website Marca.
Reportedly, Charles introduced Santa Cruz to his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. However, the monarchy frowned upon the relationship because Santa Cruz was Catholic, and the royal family was Protestant. Lady Elizabeth Anson, a cousin of Charles, once told Express, “she [Lucia] was the first real love of his [Charles’] life”.
In 1971, Lucia moved into a flat in Belgravia, London. One of her neighbors was Camilla. Therefore she arranged an introduction between Charles and her neighbor at the sporting event, setting the couple on a path to a decades-long relationship.
Camilla and Charles reportedly bring out the best in one another
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Royal author Penny Junor told Vanity Fair that Camilla has “transformed” Charles.
“He is happier with her than he has ever been. She gives him confidence and the support he has so desperately needed throughout his life and never truly found elsewhere,” she explained.
According to Junor, there was an instant attraction, especially on Charles’ part. “Charles loved that Camilla smiled with her eyes as well as her mouth and laughed at the same silly things he did,” Junor writes.
The author claims Charles “worshipped and needed” Camilla. In response, the queen consort reportedly once told a friend, per the author, “it’s wonderful to be loved.”
