Princess Diana saw the end of her royal marriage coming just days before her 10th wedding anniversary — as
Prince Charles cruelly began to flaunt his love for Camilla Parker-Bowles!
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It had become common knowledge in the inner circle that Camilla has been serving as hostess — and Charles' constant companion — at dinner parties thrown by the future king at his country estate. "Camilla steps right into Di's shoes," said one royal watcher of the shocking move.
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"She organizes the menu and sits alongside Charles," added the shocked insider. "He is closer to her than anyone else." And when Charles flew to Italy for a lone sketching trip, royal sources were soon informed of Camilla following there a few days later — as she stayed at a villa nearby.
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While there had always been rumors about Charles and Camilla, the couple also had reportedly began to speak openly about how their "friendship" had rekindled. There was talk of how the ex-loves had rediscovered their fondness for each other after Camilla had helped to comfort and nurse Charle's back to health when he broke his arm during a polo match in 1990.
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Former royal policeman Andre Jacques, on duty at Highgrove House until he retired earlier this year, remembered watching the relationship develop between Charles and Camilla. "On the weekend following Charles' accident at polo last June," he said, "she paid a surprise call. He was delighted to see her."
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British royal author Andrew Morton also reported of Camilla's renewed presence at Highgrove House, despite her having still been married to Brigadier Andrew Parker-Bowles, who served as Director of the Royal Army Veterinarian Corps. On one occasion, reported Morton, Camilla even sunbathed there in her bikini.
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Diana, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen. "She is showing remarkable self-control," said one friend at the time. "I couldn't behave the way she has these past few months."
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Charles had first met Camilla in 1972, and they hit it off immediately. She fit all the prince's requirements for a royal bride — an avid horsewoman who was also worldly, sporty and blonde.
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The prince's biographer, Penny Juror, said: "The prince fell deeply in love with Camilla — more so, some friends say, than he has ever been again. She was in love with him, and would have married him at the drop of a hat."
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"Alas," added Juror, "he never asked her. He hedged his bets until Camilla gave up on him." Diana, meanwhile, would keep persevering
through her dying marriage — before making royal history on Dec. 9, 1992, by announcing that she was legally separated from her prince.
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By then, even the most romantic of their subjects had recognized the strain between Diana and Charles during a recent trip to South Korea. Tragically, Diana's own freedom from her philandering husband would be short-lived, ending in tragedy with
her death on August 31, 1997!Photo credit: Getty Images
