Prince William and Queen Camilla have come together to support King Charles as he battles cancer, but their relationship hasn’t always been friendly.
Royal expert Hilary Fordwich Speaking to Fox News Digital, the prince, who is heir to the British throne, claimed he initially had no affection for his stepmother after witnessing the very public breakdown of his parents’ marriage.
“Prince William couldn’t stand Camilla at first,” Fordwich told Fox News Digital.[But] He grew to appreciate her unwavering dedication to her job. The two grew closer and bonded over their shared experiences as spouses dealing with cancer.”
Prince William removes Annabel Elliott, Queen Camilla’s interior designer sister, from the royal payroll
“Prince William couldn’t stand Camilla at first. [But] He grew to appreciate her unwavering dedication to her job. The two grew closer and bonded over their shared experiences as spouses dealing with cancer.”
Royal experts claim it took Prince William a while to open up to his stepmother, Queen Camilla. (Victoria Jones/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“Camilla brings a sense of calm to King Charles and Prince William is grateful that she keeps his father happy,” Fordwich added.
Fordwich’s claims come shortly after it emerged that Camilla does not hesitate to reprimand Prince William whenever she feels he has been disrespectful to her father.
Robert Jobson, author of the new biography “Kate Middleton,” recalled an incident when Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, offered to join Prince Charles and Camilla’s motorcade as they left Windsor Castle. In an excerpt published in Britain’s Mirror newspaper, a royal correspondent claimed that the younger royals kept the older members waiting, to the dismay of Camilla.
Author Robert Jobson has argued that Camilla was disappointed that the Prince and Princess of Wales had kept the King waiting. (Leslie Martin/Pool/Getty Images)
Jobson wrote that Camilla had told Prince Charles to leave them behind so that she could prove her point to Prince William.
“When Prince Charles was made to wait for the couple for a few minutes, Camilla insisted on going without them,” Jobson wrote. “When William and Kate emerged, all they could see was the flashing blue lights of a motorbike disappearing into the distance.”
The book claims that Camilla “subtly” warned Prince William about the class system.
Click here to sign up for our Entertainment Newsletter
Queen Camilla is reportedly defending her longtime lover, King Charles. (Peter McDiarmid/Getty Images)
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the palace could not comment on Jobson’s book. A spokesperson for Kensington Palace, which represents the offices of Prince William and Kate Middleton, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Christopher Andersen, “King,” Camilla told Fox News Digital that it took her a while to build up the courage to stand up to her son-in-law.
Queen Camilla and Prince William currently have a warm relationship, but royal experts claim it wasn’t always that way. (Henry Nichols/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“Camilla was so terrified at the thought of meeting William that she was shaking like a leaf when they finally met at Clarence House and needed a vodka tonic afterwards,” Andersen claimed. “This is entirely understandable, as Camilla – and the world – knew she had destroyed the marriage of William’s parents, Charles and Diana.”
Whatever true feelings William had for Camilla, Andersen argued, he kept a poker face.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Prince William, the eldest son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana, will be the heir to the British throne. (Getty Images)
“William was very kind to Camilla and their relationship was always civil,” he said, “and that’s also because Camilla was shrewd and never tried to dictate things to William in any way. In fact, contrary to popular belief, Camilla is not a motherly type. She was never the type of mother to be actively involved with her children and would not have interfered in Prince Charles’ relationship with them.”
VIDEO: Queen Camilla furious at Prince Harry’s spare, won’t let bombshell revelation go unpunished: Insider
“Camilla has never been much of a disciplinarian,” Andersen said, “but she has been known to whisper in the king’s ear about the shortcomings of Prince William and Prince Harry.”
British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital that the king and heir to the throne have been at odds for years, so it’s not surprising that Camilla would voice her opinion of her beloved husband about their sons.
Charles and Camilla married in 2005. (Anwar Hussain Collection/ROTA/WireImage/Getty Images)
“Prince William hasn’t always seen eye to eye with his father,” Chard explained. “They differ on many issues and are constantly at odds. They also have very different leadership styles.”
“Prince William has thought things through carefully. [acts] “The son is not as emotional as his father and once he makes up his mind he never wavers, so you could say he can be stubborn. He has a tougher stance on things as opposed to his father who is more emotional and goes with the flow,” Chard said.
Royal experts told Fox News Digital that Prince William’s leadership style is very different from his father’s. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
“King Charles has difficult decisions to make, especially those that involve his family,” Chard continued. “Prince William is a modern royal who wants to bring change to the monarchy. He’s always been more popular than his old-fashioned father. Prince William’s popularity was once a thorn in his side. [father’s] On the other hand, he’s not so jealous now that Charles is King.
Prince Charles rejects Prince Harry’s phone call after committing ‘mortal sin’ against his father: expert
King Charles and Queen Camilla are due to be crowned in May 2023. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“Queen Camilla is a great supporter of King Charles and keeps Prince William on his toes when necessary to ensure he is not disrespectful to his father.” [But] Prince William and Queen Camilla currently get along pretty well: They respect each other’s strengths, and while Prince William and King Charles don’t agree on certain traditions, they understand they need to support each other when it counts.
“They have to keep the ship afloat even though their health is poor.”
Prince William and Camilla’s relationship has improved over the years, but the king’s second son portrayed his stepmother as the villain in his 2023 tell-all book, “Spare.”
Prince Harry played the villainous mother-in-law in Spare. (Getty Images)
In a television interview aired to promote his memoir, Prince Harry accused his 76-year-old mother-in-law of leaking private conversations to the media to bolster her own reputation. The prince accused members of the royal family of “being in bed with the devil” to garner favorable tabloid coverage, and particularly criticized Camilla’s efforts to rehabilitate her public image after her years-long affair with his father.
“The connections she had with the British press put her at risk,” Prince Harry told CBS. “There was a lot of willingness on both sides to share information. A family built on class and her being on her way to becoming queen meant there were going to be people and bodies in the streets.”
The allegations against Camilla have been particularly sensitive because of her role in the breakdown of Prince Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana, the mother of Prince Harry.
King Charles desperate to avoid ‘bitter’ war with Prince Andrew who refuses to leave luxury home: expert
Princess Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker Bowles at Ludlow Racecourse with Prince Charles in 1980. (Express Newspapers/Archive photo)
The late Princess of Wales once described Camilla, who had a long-term affair with Prince Charles, as a third person in the couple. Though many in the public initially shunned her, her wide-ranging charitable efforts have won her fans and she is credited with helping make Charles appear less stuffy and more integrated into modern Britain.
Prince Harry claimed that he and Prince William begged his father not to marry Camilla. (Pool/Samir Hussain/WireImage/Getty Images)
“I had mixed feelings about recently gaining a stepfather who I felt sacrificed me for his own PR purposes,” Harry wrote of his father’s marriage to Camilla in 2005. Still, he wanted his father to be happy.
“It’s funny, but I even wanted Camilla to be happy. If she was happy, maybe she wouldn’t be so dangerous, right?”
Prince Harry added that he and Prince William “begged” his father not to marry his longtime mistress, fearing she would be an “evil stepmother.”
Prince Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” was published in January 2023. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
“I think people need to understand that the one thing Prince Charles cannot tolerate is criticism of Camilla,” Andersen previously told Fox News Digital.
“There’s no criticism of Camilla,” Andersen added. “And unfortunately for Harry, he’s said some pretty nasty things about her. He’s made it very clear that he feels she’s… the villain of the piece. I think that still bothers the king and I’m not sure that it’s going to be easy for him to resolve.” [forgive]I don’t think they’ll ever forgive Harry.
“[He’s] “He’s on his own,” Andersen added of the Duke of Sussex.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
