When you hear about an English royal prince who keeps annoying his elders, who do you imagine? Chances are that you envision Harry, who has been a magnet for controversy for his entire adult life. He has reportedly had major fights with his father, King Charles, that contributed to Harry’s unprecedented decision to step down from most royal responsibilities and move to America. This left William, the future king, to play the good and supportive son back home.
Just how supportive is William, though? That depends on who you ask and, more crucially, who he’s supporting. While they appear cordial and sometimes even team up against common enemies (most recently, Prince Andrew), many have reported that William has had a contentious relationship with Queen Camilla, his father’s wife. Even worse, his grudge against her may go back to when she was having a wildly messy affair, one that hurt William’s mother (Princess Diana) immensely. Want the dirty details? Keep reading as we spill every drop of this piping hot English tea!
William clocked his father’s affair early on
Why would Prince William have a bad relationship with Queen Camilla? It all goes back to the ‘80s, when then-Prince Charles did something many found unbelievable: he repeatedly cheated on the beautiful Diana, who became so popular that she was nicknamed the People’s Princess. In his controversial memoir Spare, Prince Harry alleged that both he and William knew there was another woman in their father’s life, and this made things very tense when they were growing up.
In that book, Harry wrote, “We sensed the presence of the Other Woman, because we suffered the downstream effects. Willy long harbored suspicions about the Other Woman, which confused him, tormented him.” Harry went on to claim that William learning that his suspicions were right on the money ended up leaving a bad taste in his mouth when it came to Camilla. “When those suspicions were confirmed, he felt tremendous guilt for having done nothing, said nothing, sooner.”
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Did William want to stop Charles from marrying Camilla?
The relationship between Charles and Camilla has always been very unconventional. The fact that it started with an affair raised many eyebrows, but Camilla’s defenders always claimed this was true love and not some brief fling. It’s true: the relationship has lasted several decades now, and the two made things official when they tied the knot in 2005. How did William feel about this, though? Some reports suggest he wished it had never happened at all!
In Spare, Harry wrote about how he and his brother felt regarding their father’s impending nuptials. “Willy and I promised Pa that we’d welcome Camilla into the family. The only thing we asked in return was that he not marry her. ‘You don’t need to remarry,’ we pleaded. ‘A wedding would cause controversy.'” When Charles later popped the question, though, Harry reports that his brother was supportive.
Unfortunately, Camilla would soon find out that the friction between herself and William wasn’t going away quite so easily.
Camilla doesn’t like how William treats Charles
It probably won’t surprise you that Prince William and King Charles have a weird relationship that largely stems from their place in the royal hierarchy. Typically, everyone fawns over Charles because he’s the king, and his word is more or less law. Who would ever be willing to step up to him? As it turns out, the answer is often William, who enjoys his own special status as the future king. He’s never afraid to call Charles out, and reportedly, Camilla really, really hates it!!
Royal biographer Penny Junor, “Camilla had been horrified by the ranting and raving that William could unleash on occasions against her husband.” This was in reference to William allegedly yelling at Charles, who would typically just sit there and take the abuse. As for Camilla, she often felt caught in the middle: she’d tell William he was being disrespectful, but there was nothing else she could really do to quell this father/son rivalry.
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William put Camilla in her place when it came to his kids
The above incident may make it sound like William has a very contentious relationship with Camilla. However, aside from incidents like those alleged father/son spats, these two seemingly enjoy a very copacetic relationship. Nonetheless, William has never hesitated to put up boundaries between himself and his mother-in-law. And the most powerful example of this relates to the people William loves more than anyone else: his children.
According to royal biographer Angela Levin, Prince William made it clear to Camilla that she wouldn’t function as a grandmother to her children. That honor was reserved exclusively for Carole Middleton, Kate’s doting mother. To her credit, this alleged arrangement doesn’t seem to bother Camilla, who is content to remain close (but not THAT close) with her famous son-in-law.