CAUGHT ON CAMERA: CHARLES KICKS CAMILLA OUT
OF BLAZING ROWS FOLLOWING A SERIES
After weeks of blazing rows, tensions are at boiling point between Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, with the furious prince kicking his wife out of their Clarence House home for a trial separation.
‘Charles has finally had enough of Camilla,’ a palace source reveals. ‘They’ve been fighting more and more in recent months, but things came to a head a few weeks ago when they had a blazing row.
‘Charles was angrier than we’ve ever seen him and told her in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t welcome in his life any more.
‘He told Camilla to pack her bags and leave, and she’s been staying at Ray Mill [her home in Wiltshire] ever since.’
Following Camilla’s no-show at a recent royal event in Balmoral, it emerged that the duchess had fled to her bolthole in Wiltshire. Camilla has long used Ray Mill as a getaway.
‘That house is where she can cook scrambled eggs in her dressing gown and be among those she loves with not a jot of ceremony or anyone looking at her,’ a friend revealed last year.
Not to mention she is free from the wrath of Charles, who is said to be using the time apart to gather his thoughts on whether their
marriage can be saved. Last week, the 71-yearold duchess was the subject of whispers after Charles, 69, attended a church service at Crathie Kirk Church in Aberdeenshire alongside the Queen. Despite the annual event being a long time favourite of Camilla’s, she was nowhere to be seen, prompting speculation the couple had split. In fact, the royal pair appear to have spent a good deal of their summer apart. While Charles spent time in Balmoral with the Queen, Camilla was spotted holidaying in Sardinia, Italy with friends. ‘We’ve seen them fight before, but never has Charles actually told her to leave – until now,’ continues the source. ‘This is a very critical point in their marriage, and we’re not sure they can find a way back from it.’ Charles and Camilla are said to have come to blows over Camilla’s erratic behaviour. The scheming duchess has been causing scenes. First, details of a sordid former love triangle between Camilla, Princess Anne and Andrew Parker Bowles emerged – with Camilla’s ex-husband accused of having an affair with Anne. And only last week, Camilla was once again locking horns with another member of the royal family following New Idea’s report on her bitter feud with Sarah Ferguson over the late Princess Diana.
Not to mention her constant meddling in Princess Eugenie’s upcoming wedding and her attempts to cause friction between Meghan and Kate. It’s no wonder Charles has booted her out of the palace.
It seems Camilla can’t be in a room with another member of the royal family without there being some sort of tension, some sort of row, the royal source explains. ‘For too long Charles has just let her be and ignored her, but he can’t anymore. He’s finally had enough.’
And it would seem the couple’s upcoming royal calendar is a reflection of the animosity between the pair. Royal aides are desperately trying to divvy out their upcoming events so that Charles and Camilla can avoid spending much together.
Despite five major events scheduled for September – including a visit to the Royal Albert Hall in London, a cancer centre in Scotland and an evening reception in Northumberland, Charles and Camilla will only be attending one major event together, choosing to carry out the remaining duties separately.
‘They only communicate now through third parties,’ confirms the insider.
‘They are still committed to doing some official events together and have been told by senior officials to put on a brave face and keep up appearances to put the rumours at bay. But the truth is that their marriage is in dire shape.
‘It’s why Camilla wasn’t with Charles and the Queen at the weekend. Her Majesty is so angry at the current state of affairs that she’s told Charles she doesn’t want any contact with his wife, and for the time being Camilla has been banned from being in the same room as the Queen altogether.’
‘FOR TOO LONG CHARLES HAS LET HER BE AND IGNORED HER... HE’S FINALLY HAD ENOUGH’
It’s a rare occasion that notoriously private Prince Charles makes a public statement. However, the furious Prince of Wales has been forced to address rumours that he is embroiled in a bitter feud with his sons.
Claims emerged last week that the 69-year-old heir to the throne ‘just doesn’t get on’ with Princes William and Harry and their relationship has become increasingly ‘strained’.
A source revealed to US website The Daily Beast, ‘They are very different people and just don’t get on. It’s as simple as that. They rarely see each other outside of official business.’
While Clarence House issued a furious denial, dismissing the claims as ‘complete fiction’, royal insiders say tension has been building between Charles and his sons for years.
It is believed famously tight-lipped Charles dislikes the fact that his sons are so emotive in public about causes such as mental health – especially after William and Harry opened up last year about the heartbreaking effect the death of their mother, Diana, had on them at such a young age.
‘My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television,’ Harry said in an interview with Newsweek last June. ‘I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.’
The Daily Beast source notes that ‘although Charles was not mentioned by name it’s hard to see how Harry could have had anyone in mind but his father.’
Tensions have also flared between William and Charles over Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge’s work schedule.
‘William loves his father and is tremendously loyal to him, but from the beginning he has said he is his own man and hates being told what to do. Whenever he’s pressured by Charles’ aides at St James’ Palace to take on some royal assignment he isn’t interested in, William complains bitterly,’ states the source.
‘William is also unhappy with Charles’ camp for promulgating the notion that the Cambridges aren’t pulling their weight. In fairness, they have three young children and there’s no reasonable way they can be expected to match the hundreds of tree-plantings, plaque-unveilings, ribbon-cuttings,
hospital visits, and walkabouts Charles and Camilla perform each year.’
Suggestions have been made that, much like Charles’ envy over Diana’s popularity, the prince has become increasingly jealous over the attention his son’s and their wives receive.
‘Charles saw Kate and William as the new stars and feared he’d be in trouble,’ journalist Tom Bower reveals in his book Rebel Prince.
The source also notes that the younger royal generation’s more informal way of doing things is a great source of annoyance for Charles – it is well know that William, Kate, Meghan and Harry all call staff by their first names, while Charles prefers to keep things more formal.
But perhaps the biggest bone of contention is Camilla. Tellingly, Bower reveals the younger generation of royals aren’t fond of their stepmother.
‘In public, they are all smiles, but behind the scenes they do not like Camilla and see little of each other,’ he told New Idea earlier this year.
‘This is partly because of what happened to their mother Diana, but also because Charles spent so little time with them when they were younger.’
Despite their differences, the young royals have made clear in the past that they still have a lot of respect for their father.
‘One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that [their] other parent has died,’ Harry said last year.
‘How you deal with that I don’t know. But, you know, he was there for us.
‘He was the one out of two left and he tried to do his best and to make sure that we were protected and looked after.’