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Camilla: The King's Mistress
A behind-the-scenes look at the romance of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles provides insight into why they never married, the truth behind Charles's marriage to Diana, and Camilla's own marriage and divorce. Reprint.
- GenresBiography
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1994
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About the author
Caroline Graham
3 books1 followerCaroline Graham is one of Britain's most successful writers and journalists. She is a highly respected royal commentator who was the youngest ever Woman's Editor at the Sun, where she earned her reputation as a formidable investigative reporter and established unrivalled royal contacts. She is now the U.S. Correspondent for the Mail on Sunday.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 23, 2009
this is a book detailing the relationship between charles and the love of his life camilla from the early days till the present through the years of his marriage to diana
August 21, 2015
Interesting story written from the Camilla camp in 1994. I felt the author painted an unfair portrait of Diana. She portrayed Diana as a crazy, unstable shrew and yet it was Charles refusal to end his relationship with Camilla that caused Diana to be so unhappy and angry. I don't think there are very few women on this planet that would be happy and accept the fact that their husband has a mistress for 20 years that he refuses to give up after marriage. The author paints Charles and Camilla as 2 poor lovers who go through hell just to be together. I felt no sympathy for either of them. But it is an engrossing book none the less. It is also interesting to look at the entire story now in 2015 - what if Diana had not died?
October 4, 2021
This book, published in 1995, is nothing but a PR campaign from the Charles & Camilla camp. It is a one-sided account of Charles & Camilla’s story and is extremely unfair on Diana.
Pages and pages have been devoted in reiterating:
• How Charles is a most capable heir and will one day become the most magnificent king England has ever had
• Camilla and Charles are one of the greatest lovers on earth (maybe in the category of Romeo and Juliet)
• Camilla is such a fun-loving, dependable and earthy person and Charles can trust only her with everything
• The Queen and the whole Royal Family is so very fond of Camilla (Then why didn’t they get the pair married back then, instead of dragging two other people in their resp. marriages?)
• Camilla is so loyal to the Crown (that she can sacrifice her marriage just to sleep with the Prince)
• Camilla is so classy, while Diana is not (the poor Royal family did not realise this before the wedding)
• Diana is a mentally unstable person given to outbursts (here the author ignores the root cause of the outbursts – Camilla)
• Charles wanted his marriage to work so much, but Diana was not willing to (Well, how will a marriage work if it is just a farce and the husband is not willing to give up on his mistress?)
• The marriage did not work only because of Diana’s mental problems (Who wouldn’t go mad with a mistress hovering in the background?)
• The Queen and the entire Royal Family had their approval as Camilla being Charles’ mistress, even when he was married to Diana (WTH!)
• Diana was a media manipulator (She had every right to use the media to tell her side of the story.)
• Camilla was not interested in marrying Charles as she didn’t want to live in a fishbowl (Well, what about now, when she is married to him?)
It is appalling to read about the ‘musical beds’, open marriages and zero morality of the elite classes. The Royal Family unfairly used Diana as a pawn (showpiece bride) in a farcical marriage. When she did not play the part of the submissive wife accepting her husband’s wayward ways and became too hot to handle, the Royal Family conveniently dropped her like a hot potato and unfairly called her unstable. Also shocking was the double standards of the Family – the virginity test that Diana was subjected to before the wedding, while Charles was allowed to be promiscuous and even encouraged to ‘sow his wild oats while he could’.
The book falls flat in its intention to portray Charles as great and Diana as a monster with a Jekyll and Hyde type personality. Charles is referred to as “future king” throughout the book, but he comes across as a wimpy character always rushing into Camilla’s arms whenever faced with a problem and sharing the intimate details of his married life with Diana to her. Which wife would like this??
On Diana’s part, I wonder why nobody warned her if it was openly known in their circles that Charles had a mistress. Her sister had first hand experience of Charles. Had Diana listened to her instincts and rejected the proposal, she would have been alive today. Her death was so unnecessary in this sordid saga.
Pages and pages have been devoted in reiterating:
• How Charles is a most capable heir and will one day become the most magnificent king England has ever had
• Camilla and Charles are one of the greatest lovers on earth (maybe in the category of Romeo and Juliet)
• Camilla is such a fun-loving, dependable and earthy person and Charles can trust only her with everything
• The Queen and the whole Royal Family is so very fond of Camilla (Then why didn’t they get the pair married back then, instead of dragging two other people in their resp. marriages?)
• Camilla is so loyal to the Crown (that she can sacrifice her marriage just to sleep with the Prince)
• Camilla is so classy, while Diana is not (the poor Royal family did not realise this before the wedding)
• Diana is a mentally unstable person given to outbursts (here the author ignores the root cause of the outbursts – Camilla)
• Charles wanted his marriage to work so much, but Diana was not willing to (Well, how will a marriage work if it is just a farce and the husband is not willing to give up on his mistress?)
• The marriage did not work only because of Diana’s mental problems (Who wouldn’t go mad with a mistress hovering in the background?)
• The Queen and the entire Royal Family had their approval as Camilla being Charles’ mistress, even when he was married to Diana (WTH!)
• Diana was a media manipulator (She had every right to use the media to tell her side of the story.)
• Camilla was not interested in marrying Charles as she didn’t want to live in a fishbowl (Well, what about now, when she is married to him?)
It is appalling to read about the ‘musical beds’, open marriages and zero morality of the elite classes. The Royal Family unfairly used Diana as a pawn (showpiece bride) in a farcical marriage. When she did not play the part of the submissive wife accepting her husband’s wayward ways and became too hot to handle, the Royal Family conveniently dropped her like a hot potato and unfairly called her unstable. Also shocking was the double standards of the Family – the virginity test that Diana was subjected to before the wedding, while Charles was allowed to be promiscuous and even encouraged to ‘sow his wild oats while he could’.
The book falls flat in its intention to portray Charles as great and Diana as a monster with a Jekyll and Hyde type personality. Charles is referred to as “future king” throughout the book, but he comes across as a wimpy character always rushing into Camilla’s arms whenever faced with a problem and sharing the intimate details of his married life with Diana to her. Which wife would like this??
On Diana’s part, I wonder why nobody warned her if it was openly known in their circles that Charles had a mistress. Her sister had first hand experience of Charles. Had Diana listened to her instincts and rejected the proposal, she would have been alive today. Her death was so unnecessary in this sordid saga.
March 9, 2019
Really good book, but very much written from Prince Charles’ and Camilla’s point of view. Paints Diana as a very rude crazy young lady, when I think we should be a bit more compassionate considering just how young she was when she got entangled in Prince Charles’ life when he was not interested in her in the same way she was in him. What they expected from this relationship was very different from one another so I can’t blame her for going off the deep end so to speak
November 28, 2024
It’s different reading this book in 2024. Charles is king and Camilla is his queen.
I’ve always thought the whole Charles/Diana story to be a sad one that could have/should have been prevented. I wonder what the British monarchy would have looked like if Charles and Camilla had married way back when.
I’ve always thought the whole Charles/Diana story to be a sad one that could have/should have been prevented. I wonder what the British monarchy would have looked like if Charles and Camilla had married way back when.
January 9, 2025
Very interesting book. Felt sympathy for Mrs Parker Bowles.
January 9, 2016
I'm finished....only...ONLY...my ocd kept me till the end. I had to finish ....and it hurt. what a piece of trash. I know di was human and had issues...we all do. I know Charles is human and has issues...we all do. but 240 pages of how he couldn't help it. he..they...palace lured a young virgin into a marriage with no hope. he slept with camilla the night before he married and called her on his honeymoon....come on. I'd go off too. to the library bin it goes...I'm sorry to the next person
January 10, 2016
Nothing earth shattering here. Provides reasons why C & C have been together so long. Sympathetic to Camilla although no indication the author & her ever met.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews