King Charles and Queen Camilla were friends-turned-lovers-turned-royal couple.
However, the pair’s long road to becoming monarchs was a hard one, as the late Queen Elizabeth II was conflicted over her son’s relationship with the former Mrs. Parker Bowles.
Biographer Andrew Morton told Fox News recently that “there was considerable animus between the houses of the queen and Prince Charles over Camilla.”
Camilla, 76, and Charles, 74, met in the early 1970s; however, they subsequently married other people and had an on-again, off-again affair over the years.
The former Prince of Wales wed Princess Diana in 1981 and Camilla tied the knot with army man Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973.
According to Morton, the queen was at odds with Charles over Camilla “before [Princess] Diana died, and certainly after Diana died.”
Diana died in 1997 at the age of 36 after perishing in a fiery Parisian car crash.
“The queen and her advisers, her courtiers, her private secretary – they all believed that Prince Charles should give up Camilla,” the “Diana: Her True Story” author said.
Morton went on: “He could love her, but he needed to leave her. And that’s because they felt she was damaging to the monarchy, which she was. There’s no question about that.”
“The presence of Camilla in Charles’ life did cause a rift between the queen and her eldest son, one which took several years to patch up,” he stated.
“And it wasn’t until the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, intervened and said, ‘Look, I’ve spoken to Camilla on numerous occasions. She’s dedicated and loving. And her feelings for Charles are not going away,’” he said.
Morton added: “And what’s the queen’s job? It is to preserve the monarchy. She sees this woman who is damaging the monarchy remaining in place. So it took a long time for that to be resolved.”
Despite it all, “the double Cs,” took the plunge and married in 2005.
Camilla was appointed Queen and has been standing by Charles’ side since Queen Elizabeth passed away last September.
The former Duchess of Cornwall was anointed as sovereign alongside her husband at their coronation at Westminster Abbey earlier this year.