TRUTH ABOUT THE
IN a grand ballroom in affluent Belgravia, a couple dance wildly beneath a crystal chandelier.
They are oblivious to whispers and nudges of fellow party-goers – the cream of Britain’s high society.
For the young woman is Camilla Shand, who is dating dashing Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles.
And her companion is the future King of England, Prince Charles.
It is the summer of 1972, the occasion is a ball at the Argentine Embassy in London – and this is the first time Charles and Camilla have gone public with their romance.
At the time, Camilla was madly in love with serial cheat Parker Bowles, who she would go on to marry.
Charles, single, had fallen head over heels for Camilla. But she, reliable sources reveal, then considered her royal beau as “a bit of fun”.
The era is covered in Netflix’s glorious third series of The Crown – though creative licence allowed directors to be, shall we say, flexible with some of the timings.
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Charles and Camilla grew close after a get-together organised by a mutual friend.
Royal author Sally Bedell Smith explains: “Charles and Camilla were not very conspicuous about their relationship. They were seen around the polo fields and went to Annabel’s nightclub in Mayfair, but he would go to her flat for dinner and visited her home in East Sussex.
“The only visible sighting (of romance) was recounted to me by a friend who had been a debutante with Camilla and who saw them at a dance in the Argentine Embassy.
“Andrew was away and Charles and Camilla were dancing wildly. My friend said she looked across the room and she and her friends thought ‘ hmmm’, the prince is interested in Camilla. Some of their friends knew what was going on but for Camilla this was very much just a fling.”
Sally says the pair had kept the relationship under wraps, often meeting at Broadlands, the Hampshire home of Charles’ “honorary grandfather” Lord Mountbatten. Charles stayed there while stationed with the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.
In The Crown – the third series was released last Sunday – viewers see Andrew Parker Bowles have an affair with Princess Anne behind Camilla’s back, while she sleeps with both him and Charles.
On TV, Anne warns Charles: “Just make sure things remain the right way round – us playing with Camilla and Andrew, not them playing with us.”
But here’s where the artistic licence came in. Sally says the idea of a love quadrangle is fictional because, while Andrew and Anne did have a romance, the dates don’t add up. She says: “Andrew did have a relationship with Princess Anne but that was in 1970 and
TV is using morelicence than usual here...there was no love quadrangle SALLY BEDELL SMITH Author reveAls truth
Charles and Camilla could not have started their affair until 1972 because he was out of the country most of the previous year.
“I like The Crown and am a great fan of creator Peter Morgan but I think he’s used a bit more artistic licence than usual here.
“However, most people accept it’s meant to be entertainment.”
Camilla is played by Emerald
Fennell on TV – and Josh O’Connor is Charles. Camilla is rumoured to have said to Charles when they first met: “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-greatgrandfather, so how about it?”
The reality is less exciting. They met at a sedate get-together organised by Lucia Santa Cruz, a beautiful Chilean historian who knew Charles from Cambridge and lived upstairs from Camilla in Belgravia.
Royal expert Penny Junor – who wrote The Duchess: Camilla Parker