In the 1990s Camilla Parker-Bowles was the most hated woman in Britain, with Princess Diana describing her as the “rottweiler” that ruined her marriage. But now she’s Queen Camilla, one of the more popular Royals, a respected figurehead for her charity work, and receives consistently positive press coverage.
This has to be one of the greatest PR jobs in history, but is it merely a smokescreen to cover up all the bad things she’s done over her life? So, park yourself in the ‘Worst Royal‘ hotseat Camilla, because we’re going to go over the worst things you’ve done in your life and see how you stack up against the rest of the Royal Family.
So, let’s dive in and rank this Royal on the moral meter.
1. Vandalized her fiance’s car
Sure, Camilla may have been part of a hugely destructive affair that rocked the nation, but vehicular vandalism is still on her rap sheet. Her first husband Andrew Parker-Bowles was notoriously unfaithful before and after their marriage, and was particularly known for sleeping with Camilla’s friends.
So when Camilla spotted her fiance’s car parked outside one of her friend’s houses she saw red. As recounted in Camilla: Making of a Mistress “she wrote a very rude message in lipstick on the windscreen and let the tires down.”
I guess technically this is a crime and Camilla also cheated on Andrew, but on the scale of things who can blame her?
Wrongdoing rating: 1/10
2. Engineered Charles and Diana’s nightmarish marriage
The love triangle between Charles, Camilla, and Diana is one of the most famous in history. But one little-known factor is that Camilla appears to have subtly manipulated Charles into marrying Diana.
As per royal biographer Anthony Holden, Camilla knew that Charles was going to have to get married to someone and that he’d seek her approval of any potential bride. When Charles asked for Camilla’s opinion of Diana she told him to go ahead, apparently because:
“She had met the blushing little Spencer girl and deduced she was not going to give them any trouble.”
Not for the first time in this article, we see Camilla not caring about ruining Diana’s life she could continue her affair with Charles. Explicitly approving of Diana because Camilla saw her as a doormat? That’s cold as ice.
Wrongdoing rating: 6/10
3. Created hate shrine to Diana in her toilet
Camilla was a snake in the grass once Charles and Diana got together. She very quickly “befriended” Diana and while this could have been genuine, it also makes it suspiciously easy for her to have access to Charles.
Anyhows, Camilla apparently never really liked Diana, let alone respected her. This manifested in some odd ways, including Camilla’s favored nickname for her romantic rival “that mad cow”. But she went further, and in the book Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles it’s claimed she collected unflattering newspaper cartoons of Diana and decorated a toilet in her house with them.
Weird? Yes. Morally? What she does in her toilet is her business.
Wrongdoing rating: 3/10
4. Her jaw-dropping confrontation with Diana
Given that Charles and Camilla weren’t particularly careful about hiding their affair Diana soon found out about it. Years of simmering betrayal finally boiled over at a 40th birthday party for Camilla’s sister in 1989. Diana hadn’t been invited but turned up anyway and began searching for Charles and Camilla.
She found the pair in an intimate conversation away from the main party and (as per Diana: Her True Story) said “‘I know what’s going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that.” Camilla was unruffled, allegedly telling Diana
“You’ve got everything you ever wanted. You’ve got all the men in the world to fall in love with you and you’ve got two beautiful children, what more do you want?”
Diana replied: “I want my husband.” Being caught cheating by your partner’s wife and trying to downplay it as no big deal is borderline gaslighting – not to mention her none-too-subtle implication to Diana that “all the men in the world” would sleep with her. Shady stuff.
Wrongdoing rating: 6/10
5. The whole damn affair
From a certain perspective, Charles and Camilla are victims. Charles would have married Camilla in the 70s, though the Royal family dismissed her for not being aristocratic enough and (shock!) not being a virgin. But, even so, spending years not-so-secretly sleeping together behind Diana’s back is pretty morally despicable.
Charles is arguably the more culpable party here, but Camilla knew exactly what she was doing to Diana and her husband. Their affair ruined Diana’s life, inflicted untold damage on her and Charles’ children, and it’s taken literal decades of careful PR to recover from.
But well, at least they’re happily together now, right? Right?
Wrongdoing rating: 7/10
6. Camillagate
Charles and Camilla’s private conversations leaking is possibly the most excruciatingly awkward moment in Royal history. Put simply, nobody wants to hear the future King of England fantasizing about being a tampon.
The release of the recorded conversation resulted in widespread mockery of the Royal family in general and the Queen was doubtless not amused. But is any of this Camilla’s fault? This was always intended to be a private moment, we’re not going to kinkshame anybody’s very weird yet consensual sex fantasies, and it wasn’t her fault that the phone call was recorded. So, in this instance, Camilla’s off the hook.
Wrongdoing rating: 1/10
7. Cultural insensitivity towards Inuit Peoples
Charles and Camilla are effectively ambassadors for the United Kingdom and the Commonweath, which encompasses a vast range of cultures and religions. For the most part they manage to avoid causing offence by not doing much of anything, no matter what they’re seeing.
But their regal demeanor was busted wide open on a 2017 trip to Canada where they were treated to a traditional katajjaq Inuit performance and burst out laughing.
Social media users dubbed this an “offensive public spectacle”, that “captured modern colonialism” and that they are being “disrespectful”. But Inuit observers said laughter isn’t necessarily offensive during this ceremony, so it’s a wash.
Wrongdoing rating: 2/10
8. Planted negative stories in the press against other Royals
Camilla’s campaign to rehabilitate her image has been long, complex and careful. But, by and large, she’s succeeded. But at what cost? It’s been widely reported that to build a positive relationship with the tabloid press Camilla “got into bed with the devil” and has leaked information about Charles’ sons to the tabloids.
Basically Camilla sends the papers juicy stories and in return they give her fawning coverage. For example, an accurate recounting Camilla’s first meeting with the the-then teenage Prince William became a story. He didn’t leak it and the only other person there was Camilla…
Camilla and her press team vociferously deny all this, claiming that the source of that specific leak was a now-fired private secretary. Maybe that’s true, maybe it isn’t. I guess we will never know.
Wrongdoing rating: 5/10 (if true)
Conclusion
And so Camilla ends up with a wrongdoing rating of 31/80, sandwiching her just between Charles’ sons and some way behind the King himself. This feels about right. Sure, her treatment of Diana and the affair was some supremely dodgy stuff, but at least nowadays she appears to have improved.
So, as we head into the final few Royals, the current rankings are: Kate Middleton on 15/80, Meghan, on 20/80. Harry on 30/80, Camilla on 31/80, William on 33/80, and Charles still way out in front as the worst Royal on 45/80.