How did Prince Charles and Camilla meet and how long have they known each other?
Prince Charles and Camilla have known each other for over three decades. They met for the first time at a Windsor polo match in 1970. At that time, Camilla’s name was Camilla Shand. Reportedly, Camilla jokingly mentioned that her maternal great-great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was the long-time mistress of Charles’s great-great-grandfather, Edward VII, and said,”My great-great-grandmother was your great-great-grandfather’s mistress, so how about it?” The two became close but were separated when Charles joined the Royal Navy in 1971. Two years later Camilla married Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles. However, the friendship between Prince Charles and Camilla continued. Camilla divorced in 1995. Charles and Diana divorced in 1996, and Diana was killed in a car crash in 1997. Prince Charles and Camilla continued to keep their relationship low-key, hoping for eventual public acceptance. They are finally getting married this year, 2005.
