Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Prince Charles have now been happily married since 2005, and celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary together this month. However their relationship, which first began in 1971, caused problems in the Prince of Wales’ marriage to Princess Diana from the start. The prince rekindled his love affair with Camilla in 1986, however his infidelity did not become public knowledge until the early Nineties. 

When it did, the public outrage was such that the harassment and abuse made life “horrendous” for Camilla, and made her a “virtual prisoner” in her home as she had no personal security to ensure her safety at this point. 

Royal author Penny Junor, in her 2017 biography “the Duchess: The Untold Story” describes how Camilla faced a huge public backlash after “Diana: Her True Story” came out in 1992.

The bombshell book, which Diana collaborated on with journalist Andrew Morton, linked Camilla’s name with the Prince of Wales, however in January 1993 the now-infamous “Camillagate” tapes confirmed the affair.

Ms Junor writes: “[Camilla] was branded a whore, a marriage-wrecker, and adulterer, and Andrew [Parker Bowles] found himself in the curious position of being the wronged husband.”

Andrew Parker Bowles himself had been serially unfaithful in the marriage, and Ms Junor reports how he “wasn’t overly worried” about his wife’s affair with the future king. 

Ms Junor continues: ”The harassment intensified.

“She became the butt of lewd jokes, crude cartoons, lurid headlines; she had disturbing phone calls at all hours of the day and night, received abusive letters, and became a virtual prisoner alone for a lot of the time, in a big house in the country with no security.

“Life became horrendous, not just for Camilla herself but for all her immediate family.”

Ms Junor adds: “How anyone comes back from that sort of public humiliation in unimaginable. I suspect most people would have been crushed by it. 

“Camilla internalised the pain and presented a brave face.” 

In her book, Ms Junor also writes about how Camilla’s friends and family branded Charles an “absolute pig”.

Two years after the “Camillagate” tapes, in 1994, the Prince of Wales went on record in his authorised biography about how he had been unfaithful with Camilla during his marriage to Diana.

A friend of Camilla’s said at the time: “Frankly, Charles has behaved like an absolute pig and landed Camilla right in it.

“She has done absolutely nothing to deserve this after all the support she has given him over the years through difficult times.”

Her brother-in-law Simon Parker Bowles said: “Prince Charles does not have our sympathy at the moment.

“You can’t go back and blame your upbringing, or your parents, as he has done.

“That is wrong and very hurtful. Even if you feel like it, you don’t go around talking about it, particularly if you’re a member of the Royal Family.”

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