Inside key to ‘spicy’ Charles and Camilla relationship, with £50K gifts, saucy calls & unusual bedroom set up
KING Charles and Queen Camilla are celebrating 20 years married today after tying the knot at Windsor Guildhall in 2005.
The royal couple released new photographs to mark their 20th wedding anniversary and are spending the day in Italy for a state visit.
Despite their steadfast loyalty to one another, their long-term relationship hasn’t been a fairytale at all points – Charles famously being married unhappily to Princess Diana from 1981 to 1996.
The Princess of Wales famously outed their affair to Martin Bashir in an interview that shocked the world.
“There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” she said.
However, Penny Junor wrote in The Sun: “Camilla and Charles had loved one another for nearly 34 years when they finally wed on April 9, 2005.
“A queen had tried to prise them apart. A princess had shamed them. A whole country had turned against them.
“But their love held strong, even when everything else around them had fallen apart.
“And so when the new Duke and Duchess of Cornwall stepped back into Windsor Castle after becoming husband and wife, they both wept.
“Their tears set off the staff who were waiting for them, and soon everybody was sobbing.
“They were crying for joy, and for love.”
Bonded over humour
The biographer claimed that Camilla also has an “unerring ability to laugh even in the most terrible of situations” and her family, including children Tom and Laura, are cut from the same cloth.
She said: “This is the side that Charles has always loved, and which the rest of the world has slowly come to see.
“When things go pear-shaped, her first instinct is to laugh. In fact, she is a terrible giggler.
“But she can be tough when needs be. She is nobody’s fool and won’t be pushed around.”
Lavish £50k gifts
Charles is said to dote on his wife and has even treated her to some very expensive gifts.
In the new portraits to celebrate their 20-year anniversary, Camilla wore a pair of earrings which have a very sentimental meaning.
The Queen wore a bridal white coat dress by Anna Valentine, and accessorised with her £50k wedding earrings, which were thought to have been gifted by Charles.
Unusual bed arrangement
The couple are said to do one key thing to keep their marriage strong.
According to Jack Stooks, who worked as a senior gardener at Highgrove for King Charles for over two decades, the royal couple spend time apart, which keeps their bond strong.
Speaking to FruityKing, Jack opened up about the King and Queen’s unusual sleeping arrangements.
While King Charles splits his time between several locations, including his London pad Clarence House and Highgrove House, Camilla heads back to her Wiltshire bolthole, Ray Mill House, for most weekends to escape royal life.
Jack shared that the unique living situation suits the pair well, as they both enjoy alone time.
The former staff member shared: “Before Charles and Camilla got married, they agreed Camilla would keep her home.
“The separate space was important for them both and their families.
“For Camilla, her Wiltshire house had so many memories of raising her family.
“It’s somewhere she can retreat and escape royal life if she needs to.
“It’s somewhere she can go with her family and have a laid back weekend without prying eyes.”
Spicy body language
Despite weekends apart, the couple are said to have a “spicy” relationship, according to body language expert Judi James.
She told Fabulous: “Beneath all those signals of loving support and dedication though, the subliminal messaging is still one of spice, hinting at a relationship that can still be sexy, naughty, passionate and even fiery when it comes to hints of temper.
“When Camilla and Charles lock eyes, their expressions will often change to something that can only be described as ‘naughty’.
“It’s a shared look of mischief that suggests a matching capacity for being playful and even badly behaved.”
Of course, their saucy bond was documented in The Crown TV series, following their “tampongate” scandal.
During a leaked phone call, Charles and Camilla fantasised about being intimate with each other, and Charles joked about being reincarnated as a tampon so he could live “inside her”.
The incident rocked royal fans when it was leaked to the press in 1993.
The phone call occurred while the then Prince Charles was married to Princess Diana, and Camilla was married to Andrew Parker Bowles.
Pet names
Penny said that King Charles refers to Camilla as “My darling wife” as an affectionate name.
The biographer added: “Everything about him, from the grin on his face to the relaxed body language, tells you that he adores her, depends upon her and that with her in his life he feels complete, I suspect for the first time.
“She is a strong person, far stronger than he, and she has transformed him.
“They are a compelling and well-matched couple, fired by the same ideals, tickled by the same sense of the absurd. They are friends, companions and soulmates.”
Cancer rock
The nation was left shocked earlier last year when Charles revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer.
Through the treatment, which is ongoing, stoic Camilla has been right by his side.
Camilla has been praised as Charles’ “rock” following his diagnosis.
And Judi notes that there could even be a suggestion “their relationship might have deepened” given Charles’s illness.”
Inside Charles and Camilla's relationship
CHARLES and Camilla’s relationship began back in 1971 when the pair were introduced by a mutual friend.
Aged 23, they quickly became close friends talking for hours on the phone and spending as much time together as possible.
However, the relationship never progressed amid warnings from Charles’ great-uncle Lord Mountbatten that Camilla was not “sufficiently aristocratic” to marry into the Royal Family.
The then-Prince of Wales tied the knot with Diana in 1981 upon his family’s recommendation – but the People’s Princess called the relationship “tricky” as she knew how much Charles loved Camilla.
She claimed that before her wedding, she found out Charles had a bracelet made with the initials “G” and “F” for Gladys and Fred – pet names Camilla and Charles had for each other.
She also found photos of Camilla in Charles’ diary on their honeymoon, as well as cufflinks with the initials “C” and “C” intertwined.
Five years on from their spectacular wedding, Charles and Diana’s marriage was lost – with Camilla firmly back in the picture.
Charles and Diana divorced in 1996, before her death in 1997.
King Charles II wed Camilla Parker-Bowles on April 9 2005, nearly eight years after his ex-wife and mother to his sons, Princess Diana, tragically died.
‘Greatest love story’
Katie Nicholl, who is the Royal Correspondent at Vanity Fair, said Charles and Camilla “truly compliment each other.”
She told Fabulous: “The King seems very happy to have Camilla by his side, and I think there is a great deal of gratitude there.
“Gratitude, tolerance, and patience have probably been key components of their relationship. “Given the tough year the family has had, when you look at them, you see a couple who are still devoted to each other, great companions, great friends, and very much in love.
“It’s ironic, really, when you consider how their relationship started.
“At one point, it could have threatened the entire future of the monarchy—Diana famously said there were ‘three of us in this marriage.’
“Yet, in hindsight, it may be one of the greatest royal love stories of all time, up there with Elizabeth and Philip.”