King Charles and Queen Camilla have been through the toughest of times together. Their up-and-down story all began with their infamous affair while still married to their partners, Charles with Princess Diana and Camilla with Andrew Parker Bowles. But while the public – and parts of the Royal Family – had a tough time accepting Camilla, she eventually managed to turn it around and become a beloved member of the Firm.

Now Camilla wasn’t royal from the beginning, instead growing up in Sussex, where she and her sister, Annabel, were very close. The two did everything together, including attending the same school. These days, Annabel has gotten used to attending some rather glamorous royal events, including the coronation of King Charles.

Camilla’s sister Annabel has stayed in the background for most of her life, not wanting to be a public figure. Recently, though, she decided to speak out, revealing new details about what King Charles and Queen Camilla’s marriage is really like.

When the scandalous affair between King Charles and Queen Camilla was made public, very few believed it would have a happy ending. At the time, the UK population adored Princess Diana, and after seeing her let down by her husband – though it later turned out that she had an affair too – they turned on Camilla.

Of course, Charles and Camilla met before the king met Diana. Their relationship can be traced back to 1972 when they first encountered one another at a polo match.

In the book Charles and Camilla, Portrait of a Love Affair, author Gyles Brandreth claims that Charles and Camilla were introduced by their mutual friend Lucia Santa Cruz, the daughter of the Chilean ambassador.

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Fathers Day Adoption

The couple dated for a while but stopped when Charles left to serve in the Royal Navy. By the time he returned, Camilla was engaged to Andrew Parker Bowles.

King Charles & Queen Camilla

Bowles and Camilla married in 1973, though Camilla maintained a close and friendly relationship with Charles. The now-king then started dating 19-year-old Diana Spencer in 1980.

When Diana was introduced to the Bowles couple, Camilla thought the young lady was “sweet and cute” and approved of her. At first, Diana and Camilla got along well. Soon, however, things grew uncomfortable.

“I met [Camilla] very early on. I was introduced to the circle, but I was a threat, I was a very young girl, but I was a threat,” Diana explained in the book Diana: In Her Own Words.

According to Prince Charles’ authorized biography, as quoted by Town & Country, Charles and Camilla’s affair started in 1986. Charles was still married to Princess Diana at that point. She found out about it – and confronted Camilla.

Things for Charles and Diana continued as usual, at least from the public’s perspective. But it wasn’t long before the couple’s fairytale life was over.

In 1992, the couple announced their separation, though both continued with their official royal duties. Four years later, in August of 1996, they reached a final agreement for the divorce.

Infamous Tampongate scandal

By that stage, things had already reached the ears of the public regarding Charles’s relationship with Camilla. And what happened in December 1989 pretty much confirmed that they had been having an affair for years.

Just months after Charles and Diana formally separated, the press published a full transcript of a telephone call between the then-future King and Camilla.

The phone call revealed an intimate and sexual exchange between the pair. According to The Diana Chronicles, the person who recorded it had kept it for himself for years.