Young Camilla Parker Bowles’ Reportedly Proud Her Great-Grandmother Was the King’s Lover: ‘Practically Royalty’
Young Camilla Parker Bowles never shied away from her family’s ties to the royal family. Instead, she embraced them. Camilla claimed to be proud her great-grandmother was the king’s lover. After her marriage to King Charles, Camilla called herself “practically royalty” due to her family’s scandalous past.
Camilla Parker Bowles wasn’t born into a well-to-do family
Camilla Parker-Bowles wasn’t born into a well-to-do family. However, her father, Major Bruce Shand, was Vice Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex. Therefore his lofty position in society afforded young Camilla, an upwardly mobile lifestyle with a group of high-society young women.
As a child, she attended Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington, one of the country’s most prestigious schools. There, she began flaunting her family’s scandalous past, says author Christopher Anderson, who wrote the book Game of Crowns.
Young Camilla Parker Bowles was proud her great-grandmother was the king’s lover, calling herself ‘practically royalty.’
Around 10, Camilla began idolizing her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel. Then, Camilla Shand, nicknamed “Milla,” proudly flaunted her family’s scandalous ties to the royal family.
Author Christopher Anderson wrote, as reported by The New York Post, that Camilla ordered her classmates to bow before her. “My great-grandmother was the lover of the King,” she proclaimed of her legacy. “We’re practically royalty.”
Camilla’s great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was the mistress of King Edward VII. Per Anderson, Keppel’s affair with the king was in plain view of her husband, George. She once said, “My job is to curtsy first and then jump into bed.”
Keppel was so much a part of King Edward VII’s life that Queen Alexandra asked her to stay by his bedside while he lay dying. Keppel would die in 1946 of cirrhosis of the liver.
Camilla’s pride in her family’s links to the royal family would rise again when she met then-Prince Charles in 1970. They first met at a polo match at Windsor Great Park. Camilla first told Charles, “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common.”
Camilla and Charles’ romance ultimately became as legendary as that of her great-grandmother and Edward VII
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The relationship between Camilla Parker Bowles and King Charles III began in 1970 as lovers and later turned into a secret affair. However, During Charles’ deployment as a member of the royal navy, Camilla wed Andrew Parker Bowles in February 1973.
In 1981, Charles announced his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer. They wed in July that year, effectively making Diana Princess of Wales. The pair welcomed Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984. By 1986, Charles had rekindled his not-so-quiet romance with Camilla, a relationship known by both their spouses.
However, friends and family members knew about Charles and Camilla’s affair. In late 1992, Charles and Diana separated. Secret tapes of a conversation between Camilla and Charles known as “tampon-gate” were published one year later.
In June 1994, Prince Charles admitted to his affair. According to The New York Times, he didn’t name his mistress in an interview with documentary filmmaker Jonathan Dimbleby. One year later, Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles divorced.
In 1995, Princess Diana sat down for an interview with the BBC’s Martin Bashir. “There were three of us in this marriage. So it was a bit crowded,” the princess famously said, referencing Camilla without naming her. Charles and Diana divorced one year later. Diana died in 1997.
Charles and Camilla began appearing together in public in the late 1990s. In 2005, they were granted permission to marry by Queen Elizabeth II. Upon the queen’s death, Charles became King, and Camilla, Queen Consort. They will be crowned together on May 6, 2023.
Camilla Parker Bowles and King Charles’ coronation ceremony occurs at Westminister Abbey. This ceremony kicks off three days of celebrations in their honor.
