How Camilla’s Father Ruined Her Chance To Marry Prince Charles Before Princess Diana

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles’ feelings for one another caused a royal scandal. However, it appears the pair could have avoided the affair if her father didn’t interfere with their romance.

In 1995, Princess Diana sat down with Martin Bashir for her infamous Panorama interview. During their chat, Diana revealed details about Camilla and Charles’ affair, which resulted in a royal scandal.

In the Prince Charles biography, Sally Bedell Smith accused Camilla’s father of conspiring with Andrew Parker Bowles’ brother to end her relationship with Charles.

After Charles met Camilla in the early 1970s, the two fell head over heels for one another. However, Camilla also had an on and off relationship with Andrew.

In 1972, Camilla grew closer to Prince Charles, while Andrew was out of the country serving in the army. When the Prince of Wales left Camilla to fulfill his naval duties the following year, Andrew returned to London.

Camilla’s father and Andrew’s brother allegedly used the opportunity to force the pair into a marriage. “They intervened by publishing an engagement notice in The Times on March 15. His hand publicly forced, Andrew proposed to his girlfriend of nearly seven years,” Smith wrote.

Prince Charles was reportedly stunned when he learned of the engagement, and “he couldn’t understand how ‘such a blissful, peaceful, and mutually happy relationship,’ had ended so abruptly, after such a promising start.”

Camilla married Andrew in 1973, while Prince Charles went on to marry Princess Diana in 1981. During his marriage to Diana, the Princes of Wales carried on an affair with Camilla. Charles and Diana finalized their divorce in 1996.

The Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash the following year, and Charles went on to marry Camilla, who acquired the title, Duchess of Cornwall.