Princess Diana’s Surprisingly Mean Nickname For Camilla Parker Bowles
For many, Princess Diana will always be “the people’s princess.” Her charity, her spirit, and her love for her boys will forever live on. Diana will forever be cherished, and her memory celebrated.
It is this love for Diana that makes it hard, still, for many followers to have these same feelings for Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Prince Charles’s current wife. Her place in Diana and Charles’s marriage is well known, leading many to develop a strong distaste for the woman. But no one had a stronger dislike for Camilla than the princess herself.
Princess Diana married Prince Charles in 1981
Before all the obsession and media circus surrounding the weddings of Prince William and Prince Harry, there was the wedding between Charles and his young bride: Diana Spencer. The wedding was a huge event and was watched by millions on live TV across the world.
Diana was stunning in her long-trained gown and the world was hopeful for the new life the future king and queen were building. In 1982, Charles and Diana welcomed their first child, who would become first in line to the throne after his father: William Arthur Philip Louis. In 1984, the couple welcomed their second child: Harry Charles Albert David. Diana glowed with love for her children and the world only loved Diana more as she became a mother.
Prince Charles was carrying on a long-term affair with Camilla Parker Bowles
Behind the scenes, the marriage between Charles and Diana was not what it appeared. The prince had been carrying on a secret affair with an old flame.
Charles met Camilla Parker Bowles in 1971 when the pair were introduced by a mutual friend. The two quickly began seeing one another. But that ended when Charles joined the Navy and Camilla married another man.
As we know, the relationship between Charles and Camilla didn’t end just because she got married. The two began an affair shortly after she was married. Several years later, Charles met and married Diana Spencer.
But once again, Charles and Diana’s marriage didn’t keep Camilla and Charles apart: They resumed their affair in 1986. Eventually, after the affair became too much to bear, Diana divorced Charles in 1992. Though Diana had long known of the ongoing affair, the public wouldn’t learn the scandalous details until the following year.
Princess Diana had a special nickname for her husband’s mistress
It’s hard to imagine any bitter remarks coming from the late princess, but it is completely understandable that Diana was not fond of her husband’s mistress. In a now-infamous interview, the princess revealed that she knew about her husband’s affair for quite some time. She remarked on the strain that the affair put on the marriage, saying: “Well, there were three of us in this marriage so it was a bit crowded.” On a separate occasion, she shared that she had confronted Camilla and told her to stop treating her like an idiot.
The pain that Diana was experiencing was obvious. The public would later learn just how much the princess struggled. But Diana had her ways of coping and one of them was coming up with a surprisingly mean nickname for Camilla. According to a close friend of Diana’s, the princess referred to the now-duchess as a rottweiler.
The meaning behind the name was two-fold. First, it was a direct jab at Camilla’s physical appearance. Diana told her friend that she “looks like a dog.” Secondly, rottweiler seemed fitting because “…once she has got her teeth into someone she won’t let go.”
