Queen Camilla has taken on massive responsibility as her husband, King Charles, is undergoing treatment for his cancer. The couple just celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary, and hopefully, they have many years left together.

The former Parker-Bowles has had a very bumpy ride within the royal sphere. From being the “mistress” of the future king and despised by large parts of the royal fanbase, today, Camilla has become a popular royal family member, taking her duties to the Crown very seriously.

While King Charles has had some health scares through the years, not much is known about Queen Camilla’s dito. While she got Covid twice and reportedly had a broken toe when Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest, she has been at the hospital many times in her life. Once, she fell into a hole in Scotland and was discovered by locals.

Camilla’s path to becoming Queen Camilla has been challenging. Her connection – and foremost love story – with King Charles began when he was still married to Princess Diana.

Queen Camilla
Charles and Diana formally separated in December of 1992. Just months later, the press published a full transcript of a telephone call between the then-future King and Camilla, revealing how they’d had a relatively intimate and sexual connection even before the now-king and Diana separated.

The recording became news worldwide – but according to The Diana Chronicles, the person who recorded it had kept it for himself for years.

The public reaction wasn’t positive. Firstly, Princess Diana was a national icon and loved by all, and the idea of Charles going behind her back and causing her harm didn’t sit well with anyone.

The scandal involved the future king – just hearing him say things like “live inside her trousers” was wholly unexpected and considered inappropriate.

While Charles was getting a lot of criticism, Camilla wasn’t spared. The public, as well as royal family members, as per reports, criticized her actions. Not least because of how she somewhat became “the one who destroyed Charles and Diana’s marriage.”

The phone call that took place in 1989 more than confirmed that Charles had engaged in an affair with Camilla while still married to Diana. Meanwhile, it also proved that Camilla had cheated on her husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.

In the beginning, Camilla was, unsurprisingly, not particularly popular among the public, nor was she a favorite of Queen Elizabeth.

Camilla had to endure “torrents” of mistreatment from the public
In 2018, investigative author and journalist Tom Bower claimed that, at first, Queen Elizabeth II didn’t want any interaction with Camilla. King Charles is said to have confronted his mother, telling her to “soften her antagonism” so he could live freely with Camilla. That, however, didn’t sit well with the queen, who reportedly lashed out at Charles.

Camilla was having a hard time being accepted by Queen Elizabeth when she and Charles officially became a couple. However, years before, when the affair was revealed, Camilla pretty much disappeared because of the way the public treated her.

Speaking with OK Magazine, royal expert Angela Levin, author of the 2022 book Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: A Royal Survivor, Camilla had to endure “torrents” of mistreatment from the public as the affair was revealed. According to Levin, she was forced to spend most of her time at home to avoid backlash from the public.

Moreover, the expert claimed Camilla was afraid of going out shopping or visiting stores. Instead, she had to send her friends to do her errands.

“It was very difficult for her, as she was portrayed as the most wicked woman in the world. She was constantly called nasty names like ‘rottweiler,’ and it must have come as a huge shock that people were so vile about her,” Levin said at the time.

“I don’t think Charles realised how awful it was for her. He was often away on engagements and working hard for the country and Commonwealth, and at the time, Camilla didn’t have protection officers because she wasn’t part of the Royal Family. But when Charles finally realised, he did get protection for her, which he paid for himself.”