Prince William’s And Prince Harry's Relationship With Duchess Camilla Revealed

Prince Charles’ secret affair with Camilla Parker Bowles broke his union with Princess Diana in 1996, leading to one of the biggest scandals in the history of the royal family. Despite the massive backlash, however, the Prince of Wales and Camilla stood their ground, went on with their relationship — albeit low-key — and even got hitched. Now more than 20 years since their extramarital affair left the young Prince Harry and Prince William without a mother, many wonder — do Princess Diana’s sons resent Camilla?

More than two decades since the secret affair of Prince Charles and now Duchess Camilla was exposed by the media, a lot has changed. The Duchess of Cornwall’s relationship with her stepsons, Prince William and Prince Harry, is one that has evolved from extremely dark times into something that people from 20 years ago probably never thought they would ever see.

As young boys, Prince William and Prince Charles already heard about Camilla. Even before Princess Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles broke down, the late Princess of Wales had already made her feelings about their father’s mistress clear to her sons. As expected, both princes grew up harboring feelings of anger toward Camilla — the woman that Princess Diana referred to in her stories as “Charles’ lady.”

Five years after Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s annulment and two months before Princess Diana’s death, the Prince of Wales made strides to introduce Camilla to his sons, but things did not go smoothly as planned. Knowing she was the lady who broke their mother’s heart, both Prince William and Prince Harry were cold toward Camilla. To them, she was nothing but a reminder of their mother’s torment and the breakdown of their family.

Eventually, the tables turned. At 16, Prince William took the initiative of getting to know Camilla by setting up a meeting with his father’s ladylove. Their talk went on for hours over tea, and Prince William loved how their first meeting turned out. Weeks later, Prince Harry took his turn and decided to meet Camilla and her two daughters. Over the next seven years following their first meetings, things significantly started to change between Camilla and the princes. Prince William and Prince Harry grew to like her and developed a respectful and loving relationship with her as their stepmother.

By the time Prince Charles married Camilla in 2005, Prince William and Prince Harry’s relationship with Camilla was already warm. In fact, a 21-year-old Prince Harry described Camilla at the time as a wonderful woman and told the press he’s happy that she’s made their father very, very happy. “William and I love her to bits,” he said. “To be honest with you, she’s always been very close to me and William … but no, she’s not the wicked stepmother. I’ll say that right now,” he added.