Prince William and Princess Kate’s Relationship With Queen Camilla Through the Years

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Prince William and Princess Kate’s Relationship With Queen Camilla Through the Years

A blended family! After Queen Camilla married King Charles III in April 2005, his two sons eventually came around to the idea of having a stepmother.

While the king previously dated Camilla as a teenager, they ultimately married other people. Charles, for his part, wed Princess Diana in 1981 and welcomed sons Prince William and Prince Harry in 1982 and 1984, respectively. Camilla had gotten married eight years earlier to Andrew Parker Bowles. Camilla and Andrew also share two children: Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes.

Charles and Camilla were later involved in an extramarital affair scandal. They each got divorced in 1996 and later started to publicly date. When the former Prince of Wales was keen to propose to Camilla, both of his sons were wary.

“Despite Willy and me urging him not to, Pa was going ahead. We pumped his hand, wished him well. No hard feelings,” Harry claimed in his Spare memoir, which was published in January 2023. “We recognized that he was finally going to be with the woman he loved, the woman he’d always loved, the woman Fate might’ve intended for him in the first place. Whatever bitterness or sorrow we felt over the closing of another loop in Mummy’s story, we understood that it was besides the point.”

The Duke of Sussex and William’s mother, Diana, had previously alleged in multiple tell-all interviews that there were “three people” in her marriage, referring to Charles and Camilla’s affair. Diana ultimately died in a fatal car crash in August 1997 when Harry and William were 12 and 15, respectively.

The Prince of Wales and Harry ultimately made their peace with His Majesty’s union with the Reading Room founder, however, they reportedly made it known that Camilla would not be a grandmother to their respective children. (William shares Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis with his wife, Princess Kate, while the BetterUp CIO and wife Meghan Markle are proud parents of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.)

“William has made it clear that Camilla is the wife of his father, but not a step-grandmother to his children,” royal biographer Angela Levin claimed in her 2022 book, Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort. “William and Harry were 23 and 20, respectively, when Camilla officially became their stepmother in 2005. She was more of a friendly grown-up they saw occasionally at royal gatherings. She tried to be encouraging rather than influential.”

Camilla has also had a cordial relationship with Kate, whom the Duke of Cambridge wed in April 2011. For instance, during the queen’s Country Life cover story in October 2022, she knew exactly who should be the photographer.

“[Camilla] immediately replied, ‘Oh I’d quite like Catherine to do it.’ I spent the next three or four minutes desperately racking my brain trying to think of a professional photographer called Catherine,” the magazine editor, Mark Hedges, revealed in the issue. “Then suddenly I grasped what she meant — one of the most amazing things that could happen. I found it one of the easier things to nod my head at.”

Both the Duchess of Cornwall and William have continued to support Camilla after she and Charles were crowned England’s monarchs at their May 2023 coronation. (Charles had assumed the throne after the September 2022 death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.)

Scroll below to revisit William and Kate’s relationship with Camilla through the years:

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April 2005

While William and Harry both attended their father’s wedding to Camilla, which was a civil ceremony, they admittedly weren’t enthused about the nuptials at first.

The Archewell cofounder had alleged in his Spare memoir that they both “urged” Charles not to go through with it.

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December 2006

One of Kate’s first public appearances was at then-boyfriend William’s Sovereign's Parade at Sandhurst, where military cadets graduate from training in front of the reigning monarch. As Queen Elizabeth dutifully inspected William’s uniform, Kate sat beside her parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, as well as Camilla and Charles.

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April 2011

Camilla attended William and Kate’s Westminster Abbey wedding alongside the king, her children and grandchildren. Her Majesty’s granddaughter Eliza, who is Laura’s little girl, even served as one of the duchess’ bridesmaids.

“I was so proud of her,” Camilla gushed of her grandchild during a charity event later that month, per Hello!, noting she was initially “so worried” about how Eliza would act on the big day. “She is such a lovely little thing and looked so gorgeous in her dress, but it was a very big occasion for a child of her age.”

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February 2020

While William and Kate often have separate engagements from the king and queen, the foursome stepped out together to visit the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Leicestershire, England.

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February 2022

During Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee occasion, in which she celebrated 70 years as the sovereign, the late queen hoped that Camilla would be known as Charles’ queen consort when he becomes king. (Buckingham Palace had previously remained mum on whether Camilla would use the queen consort title.) William and Harry, for their part, felt “blindsided” by the decision.

“It’s just whether or not they can get over this bad feeling. Then, of course, Queen [Elizabeth]’s health and these other considerations are there. I don’t think it helped with the queen announcing that Duchess Camilla will be Queen Consort and that’s another issue,” royal expert Christopher Andersen exclusively told Us Weekly, noting it is “driving a wedge” between the royals.

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June 2022

William and the Duchess of Cambridge rode in an open-top carriage with Charles and Camilla en route to the Garter Day celebrations.

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July 2022

Camilla entrusted Kate — a budding photographer, who shoots most of her kids' birthday portraits — to helm her Country Life cover story.

“We understand this is the first time a formal portrait of The Duchess of Cornwall has been taken by The Duchess of Cambridge for a magazine,” editor Hedges said in a statement. “And we are honored to have been chosen to be the first to publish this beautiful photograph. The photographs are superb and we would be delighted to offer The Duchess of Cambridge another commission!” 

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September 2022

Ahead of Elizabeth’s state funeral, William and Kate joined Charles and Camilla at a pre-ceremony reception at Buckingham Palace.

On the morning of the memorial, Kate and kids George and Charlotte rode into the hearse with Camilla. (Both William and Charles marched in the procession to the Abbey.)

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December 2022

Camilla and her husband supported Kate’s Royal Carols: Together at Christmas concert in December. At the end of the show, the University of St Andrews grad curtsied to her stepmother-in-law as a sign of respect.

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May 2023

Camilla was blessed and anointed as regent alongside her husband on May 6. During the ceremony, both William and Kate walked in the Abbey procession. At the end of the service, the Waleses joined the king and queen on the Buckingham Palace balcony with their three kids. The balcony appearance marked the first time the royals — only the senior working members stepped out — stood on their perch since the late queen’s death.