Just because Prince Harry’s been kicked to the curb, that doesn’t mean the remaining Royals are one big happy family without any issues. It’s no secret that Prince William and Queen Camilla haven’t always had the smoothest relationship, as King Charles III’s sons struggled to accept her as their stepmother back in the day.
Given that their parents’ marriage dissolved because of Charles’ affair with Camilla, it’s no surprise that William and Harry don’t always get on with their father’s second wife — or their rarely mentioned stepbrother and sister. Camilla is both their stepmother and queen, however, and it seems that sometimes she likes to remind William of that.
In fact, sometimes Camilla’s not afraid to teach William a lesson so he remembers exactly who’s boss.
Camilla left William and Kate stranded after William made “disrespectful” request to King Charles
According to Robert Jobson’s new book Catherine, Princess of Wales (via The Mirror), Camilla has a tendency to keep William in check when she feels he’s getting too big for his boots. This was particularly true during Queen Elizabeth II’s lifetime, when Charles was still Prince of Wales and William and Kate Middleton were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Jobson reveals one incident, for instance, when Charles and Camilla and William and Kate were leaving Windsor Castle together so the then-duke asked his dad if he and his wife could ride with him in his security convoy. Camilla is said to have considered William’s request deeply “disrespectful” and so set about arranging a “subtle” jab to bring her stepson down a peg or two.
“When Charles was kept waiting several minutes for the couple, Camilla insisted they go without them,” Jobson writes. “As William and Catherine emerged, all they could see were the blue flashing lights of the motorbikes disappearing in the distance.”
The good news is the rivalry between William and Camilla for Charles’ affections seems to have abated during this particularly hard year for the Windsors. According to veteran Royal expert Jennie Bond, the Queen Consort and the Prince of Wales have grown “much closer” in recent months as they have suddenly found themselves with so much in common, given that both of their spouses have been diagnosed with cancer.
“They have been left, almost literally, nursing the crown while the king and the princess recover,” Bond told OK! Magazine. “Times of adversity often bring people much closer together… And while Camilla and William put on a brave face for the world (and no doubt for their spouses, too), there may be times when they confide in one another about how they are dealing with it all.”
Though Camilla might’ve sometimes found her stepson “disrespectful” in the past, it sounds like the pair may well have developed a newfound respect for each other during this immensely trying period for the Royal Family.