Prince Charles Was Warned That Camilla Wasn’t Bride Material by the Most Important Woman in His Life, Royal Commentators Reveal
Once upon a time long before he met Princess Diana, Prince Charles fell in love with Camilla Parker Bowles. Although it’s believed that the Prince of Wales always wanted to marry her, other people did not including the most important woman in his life who deemed Camilla an unsuitable bride.
Read on to find out who that is. (Hint: It’s not Queen Elizabeth II).
Prince Charles fell for Camilla ‘the moment he met her’
The Prince of Wales and Camilla met in the early ’70s and hit it off right away. They began seeing each other for a while until Charles went away to the Royal Navy.
During the documentary Charles And Camilla: King and Queen in Waiting, royal editor and author Katie Nicholl said: “They clicked immediately. There was a chemistry between the two of them and really, I think probably Charles fell in love with Camilla from the moment that he met her. In many ways, she did tick the right boxes for a future consort for the Prince of Wales.”
But even Charles knew Camilla didn’t tip all the boxes, so he sought approval from a few people including the woman he had such a close relationship with his whole life.
Charles sought approval from one woman but she didn’t think Camilla was bride material
According to Nicholl, Charles sought “approval” from a few senior royals, particularly the Queen Mother, but was let down when Camilla was deemed unsuitable as a royal bride.
Nicholl explained: “It’s fair to say that the senior royals and certainly the important figures in Charles’ life — his mother, his father, and the Queen Mother, who Charles was incredibly close to and always turned to for advice and would certainly have wanted the seal of approval from — they certainly didn’t think that Camilla was suitable royal bride material.”
A couple of the reasons she wasn’t considered so are because she didn’t come from a sufficient aristocratic background and back then, the royals wanted the future king to marry a virgin which Camilla was not.
Journalist and broadcaster Emily Andrews said: “The heir to the throne nearly always was encouraged to go for a wife who was whiter than white. And it was viewed very much that Camilla did have too much of a colorful past and therefore was too much of a potential embarrassment.”
The prince finally got his wish
In the end, the Prince of Wales did get his wish and married Camilla.
Queen Elizabeth II eventually granted her son permission to marry his longtime love and they did so on April 9, 2005. The couple wed in a civil ceremony, however, the monarch and Prince Philip did not attend.
The Telegraph reported that as the head of the Church of England, Charles’ mother did not go because she had to put the Church ahead of her family’s feelings. “I am not able to go. I do not feel that my position [as Supreme Governor of the Church] permits it,” she reportedly told a friend.
The queen and Philip did attend the service of dedication that was held later and even played host to a wedding reception for their son and his new bride.
The Queen Mother died in 2002 and therefore did not see the day her grandson wed Camilla.
