Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles have now been happily married since 2005. However, in the early days after Princess Diana’s shocking death in 1997, Camilla faced resistance from the public and from Palace insiders as the Prince of Wales’ new partner. It was a tense time, and although the feelings of Prince William and Prince Harry were paramount, the Prince of Wales’ staff also felt the strain. 

Royal author Penny Junor, in her 2017 biography “The Duchess: The Untold Story”, takes a look behind the scenes at the Palace.

Ms Junor writes: “Camilla wasn’t popular in the prince’s office in those early days.

“Many of the prince’s staff had known and liked the princess, and had been greatly distressed by the break-up and everything that followed.”

A royal press office insider told Ms Junor: “Camilla wasn’t around much, so she was unpopular as a name rather than as a person.

“Just like any marital dispute, people took sides, and she was the other woman.

“They thought that if it wasn’t for her everything would have been fine, and the beautiful Diana would not have been so miserable and got herself into awkward situations. 

“I could see there was real divided loyalty.”

Ms Junor also writes about how Prince Charles told Diana “I should never have married you”  in a heated row that also saw Charles’ cousin banished form seeing the Prince and Princess of Wales. 

She writes: “Prince Charles quietly dropped almost all of his friends, because [Diana] didn’t like or trust them,” including Charles’ cousin Norton Romsey and his wife Penelope.

 “The Romseys were among the last to go, even though the couple had stayed at their holiday home in Eleuthera when Diana was pregnant.

“When the princess threw an ornament at him in the midst of yet another screaming match, the prince finally lost his cool and said, ‘I should have listened to Norton. He said I should never have married you.’

“Not surprisingly, Norton and his wife were never allowed in the house again.

“But none of it made Diana either well or happy, and the prince grew more and more depressed and despondent.” 

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