Before King Charles III (then Prince Charles) married Princess Diana (then Diana Spencer) in 1981, he was apparently already smitten with his former girlfriend, Camilla Parker Bowles (then Camilla Shand, now Camilla, Queen Consort).
After an extensive courtship, Charles and Camilla married each other in April 2005. The two remain married today, and their now decades-long romance has been well documented in royal history books, documentaries, the hit TV series The Crown, and even Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare.
Ahead, take a look back at the full love story between the king and queen of England—from their first meetings and entanglements, through Charles’s then-dissolving marriage to Princess Diana, to their happy family life now.
Circa 1970: They meet.
Reports about the couple’s first meeting vary slightly, but it is believed that Prince Charles met Camilla Shand at a polo match at Windsor Great Park in 1970, per the BBC.
People, however, says the pair met at a party years later, in 1972. “When she met the prince at a party in 1972, Camilla Shand, then a 25-year-old post-deb living in London, told him sassily, ‘My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common,’ ” the outlet reported. No matter which version is true, there was most definitely a spark.
Charles joined the Royal Navy in 1971, and despite have begun to date Camilla, the relationship apparently cooled when the prince returned to duty. People reports, “Although the smitten prince courted her for six months, he failed to propose before returning to sea in February 1973.”
1973: Camilla marries Andrew Parker Bowles.
The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown, by Penny Junor
The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown, by Penny Junor
After Charles left for his naval duties, Camilla rekindled her relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles, whom she’d first met at a party in 1965. The two married on July 4, 1973.
According to Penny Junor in The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown, Camilla and Andrew’s had first split after Andrew began an affair with Princess Anne. In fact, Junor says, Camilla may never have even dated Prince Charles had Andrew not taken up with the prince’s sister.
Camilla and Andrew subsequently had two children together: daughter Laura Parker Bowles and son Tom Parker Bowles. Fun fact: Charles is Tom’s godfather.
1977: Charles and Diana meet.
Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words, by Andrew Morton
Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words, by Andrew Morton
When Lady Diana first met Prince Charles, he was dating her sister, Lady Sarah (née Spencer, now McCorquodale). Diana was just 16 years old at the time. The Guardian describes McCorquodale as “a former girlfriend of Prince Charles,” and quoted her as saying, “I introduced them. I’m Cupid.”
In a TV interview following her engagement to Charles in 1981, Diana said of that first meeting, “It was 1977, Charles came to stay. He was a friend of my sister Sarah’s. [He came] for a [hunting] shoot. We sort of met in a plowed field.”
Diana and Charles’s engagement was announced on February 24, 1981, and they were married just a few months later, on July 29. Diana had just turned 20, while the prince was 32.
In 1991, Diana revealed to biographer Andrew Morton that at her wedding, she looked for Camilla in the congregation. She revealed (per Good Housekeeping), “I knew she was in there, of course. I looked for her.” She continued, “So walking down the aisle, I spotted Camilla, pale gray, veiled pillbox hat.”
Charles and Diana went on to have two children—Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984—before officially separating in 1992 and divorcing four years later.
1986: Charles reportedly restarts an affair with Camilla.
Supposedly having been on and off again in years prior, Charles and Camilla allegedly rekindled their physical relationship in 1986, after they were both married to other people and raising families, per People.
In a 1995 interview for BBC One’s Panorama, Diana famously said, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” speaking of Camilla. She also revealed that she once confronted Camilla about the affair, to little avail.
1993: Recordings of private conversations between Camilla and Charles are leaked.
In early 1993, an intimate phone conversation between Camilla and Charles was leaked, confirming the couple’s illicit relationship. The release of the tapes, recorded in 1989, caused a huge scandal for the royal family.
The Mirror published a transcript of the often-raucous conversation, in which the lovers famously joked about Charles being reincarnated as a tampon. The details of the chat were reportedly what finally led to the dissolution of Charles’s marriage to Diana and Camilla’s to Andrew. Camilla filed for divorce in January 1995, while Charles and Diana finalized their divorce in August 1996.
1994: Charles calls Camilla “a great friend of mine.”
In a TV documentary that aired in 1994, Charles admitted to having a close relationship with Camilla, per The New York Times, and called her “a great friend of mine.” He said, “She has been a friend for a very long time—and will continue to be a friend for a very long time.”
1997: Princess Diana’s death rocks the world.
Princess Diana tragically died on August 31, 1997, after a car chase and subsequent crash in Paris. She was 36. The accident also claimed the lives of her partner at the time, businessman Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul.
1998: Charles introduces Camilla to his sons.
In 1998, The Guardian reported that “royal aides confirmed Prince William had met his father’s companion Camilla Parker Bowles for the first time.” The article said: “A transparent campaign to ‘introduce’ Mrs. Parker Bowles to public life began after Charles’s divorce. But it was abandoned following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, last year.” William’s younger brother, Prince Harry, is said to have met Camilla at a later date.
However, not everyone in the royal family approved of Charles’s public relationship with Camilla. The Los Angeles Times revealed that, when it came to Charles’s 50th birthday party, “Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip disapprove[d] of their son’s once-adulterous relationship with Parker Bowles and stayed away.”
1999: Charles and Camilla appear in public together as a couple for the first time.
Camilla and Charles are photographed together for the very first time as a couple at the Ritz in London for the birthday party of Camilla’s sister, Annabel Elliot.
2000: The queen finally agrees to meet Camilla.
According to the BBC, Queen Elizabeth II refused to meet Camilla for a long time, despite Charles being serious about her. However, in 2000 the monarch accepted an invitation to King Constantine of Greece’s 60th birthday party, held at Charles’s residence, Highgrove, where Camilla was also present. The queen agreeing to meet her son’s partner marked a huge step forward for the royal family—and a win for Charles’s public relations team.
2001: Charles and Camilla kiss in public.
At an event for the National Osteoporosis Society at Somerset House in London, Charles and Camilla were photographed embracing and kissing, proving that their relationship was getting more serious.
2005: Charles marries Camilla.
Charles announced his engagement to Camilla in February 2005, after having lived with her at Clarence House since 2003.
On April 9, 2005, Charles and Camilla tied the knot in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. The ceremony was followed by an official blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
(Prince Harry mentioned in his memoir, Spare, that he and brother Prince William “begged” their father not to marry Camilla.)
2020: Charles and Camilla celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary.
Charles and Camilla quarantined at Birkhall during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both contracted the coronavirus (as did Queen Elizabeth II) but soon recovered.
To mark their 15th anniversary in 2020, the couple shared a photo on Instagram, posing at their Scottish estate of Birkhall with their two dogs. “Ahead of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall’s 15th wedding anniversary tomorrow, we are sharing this photo of Their Royal Highnesses with the Duchess’s dogs Bluebell and Beth,” the post caption read.
2022: Camilla is named Queen Consort of the United Kingdom.
During the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II shared in a statement that it was her “sincere wish” that Camilla be named queen consort when Charles took the throne. According to a Clarence House spokesperson, Charles and Camilla were “touched and honored” by the monarch’s words.
Following Her Majesty’s death in September, Camilla—with the late queen’s blessing—was officially named Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, alongside the new monarch, King Charles III.
The pair’s historic coronation took place May 6, 2023, at Westminster Abbey.
2024: Charles and Camilla ring in their 19th wedding anniversary.
On April 9, Charles and Camilla celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary at Clarence House, the place they have called home for over 20 years, and where they intend to live until renovations are completed on Buckingham Palace.
On the day of their anniversary, King Charles gets an exciting gift when he is presented with the first bank notes bearing his portrait. He is gifted a ledger full of the new notes from the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey. (The only other monarch to have a portrait on the bank notes is Charles’s late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.)
Despite the excitement, it is not an easy anniversary for the couple, as Charles is undergoing treatment for cancer, which he was diagnosed with in February. “The king is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement at the time. “He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”
Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness, and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.
Sabrina Park is a Digital Fellow at HarpersBAZAAR.com where she covers news, fashion, and culture stories. When she’s not writing she loves hanging out with her cat, reading outdoors and scrolling the depths of TikTok.
