Camilla’s summer hell
It will be an unhappy birthday for Camilla, as the ghost of Diana is more present than ever
Most women approach their 70th birthday with mixed feelings, but there’s no doubt that Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall – who reaches the milestone on 17 July – will dread being cast into the spotlight.
The landmark birthday is uncomfortably close to another significant date, 31 August – 20 years since the death of Diana.
The rivalry between the women – Diana famously christened Camilla ‘the rottweiler’, complaining ‘there were three of us in this marriage’ – is notorious.
Diana was wary of Camilla from the start, her suspicions about her closeness to Charles causing her vast anxiety – even before their wedding.
Her fears were heightened by Charles’s reluctance to let Camilla go – even after he married Diana. He is said to have phoned his former mistress daily while on his honeymoon with Diana.
Their affair is claimed to have resumed as early as 1983, and was an open secret among Charles’s cronies.
Following Diana’s shocking death, the public’s animosity towards Camilla was enormous – a nation grieving for the loss of their beloved People’s Princess couldn’t hide their resentment towards the woman who caused Diana so much unhappiness.
Charles and Camilla made their relationship public in 1999, and Camilla recently called the experience of living in the spotlight ‘ horrid’, adding, ‘It was a deeply unpleasant time, and I wouldn’t put my worst enemy through it.’
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As William and Harry speak freely for the first time about the devastation of the loss of their mother, it will no doubt remind the public of Camilla and Charles’s adultery.
A royal source commented, ‘It’s reckoned that every time William mentions Diana, the prospect of Queen Camilla takes a battering. But the hope is that supportive words from William and Harry will assist her case.’
Charles is said to long to make Camilla his Queen, rather than the lesser title of Princess Consort, but only time will tell if a public who arguably still mourn her younger, beautiful and undoubtedly iconic rival will ever accept her.