Is the secret of Charles and Camilla’s wedded bliss THREE marital bedrooms?
ONE FOR HIM, ONE FOR HER ... ONE FOR SHARING!
CATHERINE Zeta-Jones once said separate bathrooms were the key to a happy marriage for her and Michael Douglas, but Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall have gone one step further.
A friend of Charles and Camilla has revealed their secret for wedded bliss is not one, not two, but three bedrooms at their London residence, Clarence House.
‘His Royal Highness has a room with a double bed, decorated to his own taste, then Camilla has her own room with a double bed, decorated just the way she likes it,’ says the royal pal.
‘In addition, they have a shared bedroom with a double bed that they can use whenever they like. The arrangement suits them perfectly.’
The couple have lived together at Clarence House, the former home of the Queen Mother, since their wedding in 2005. Although the building in The Mall is open to visitors for a month each summer, the couple’s sleeping arrangements have remained a mystery because tourists are kept far away from the bedrooms.
After the Queen Mum’s death in 2002, Charles commissioned interior designer Robert Kime to oversee an extensive refurbishment before he moved in the following year.
The Prince also owns a country home, Highgrove in Gloucestershire, while Camilla retained Ray Mill house in Wiltshire, where she loves to spend time with her two children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, and her five grandchildren.
‘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 explained earlier this year. ‘It is home.’ Although Charles’s first wife, Princess Diana, was known for her love of fashion, it is Camilla who is struggling to cope with the number of her outfits.
I can reveal that the situation has reached crisis point at Clarence House, with clothes being stored in communal areas.
‘There are now racks of dresses on the landing,’ says their friend. ‘They have to be covered in bedsheets because Charles won’t let Camilla store them in plastic. He won’t have plastic in the house due to his environmental beliefs.’
A Clarence House spokesman declined to comment yesterday. However, a royal source played down the claims, insisting space could still be found for Camilla’s hundreds of outfits and that the couple shared a bedroom.
Charles is said to have let it be known that he has no intention of living in Buckingham Palace when he becomes king and would prefer to stay at Clarence House.
Surely, Camilla could do with the extra space afforded by the 775-room palace for her frocks?