Camilla once loathed the idea of being queen — and she had a few choice words for her husband.
The claim was made by royal author Tom Quinn in his new book, “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants.” Quinn spoke to hundreds of former and current palace staff members to learn what it’s like to watch over the House of Windsor.
Fox News Digital reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. A spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital, “We don’t comment on such books.”
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Queen Camilla, watched by Penny Mordaunt, Lord President of the Council, departs Westminster Abbey following her and King Charles III’s coronation in London on May 6, 2023. (Anwar Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images)
“Camilla definitely didn’t want to be queen because she’s intelligent enough to know that once you become queen, or a senior member of the royal family, you are constantly under the microscope,” Quinn told Fox News Digital.
“And I think Camilla, right back in the 1970s when she first met Charles, decided, ‘I don’t want to marry.’ Not because she didn’t love him. I think she would’ve liked to marry him.
The former Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles stayed friendly even after she married Andrew Parker-Bowles in 1973. (Tim Graham/Getty Images)
“But apparently, she said, ‘I’m not going to be able to cope with being queen. I don’t want to be queen because it’s too much focus, too much attention on me.’ She enjoyed being able to have a private life away from the limelight. But Charles refused to give up.”
Tom Quinn’s book, “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants,” is out now. (Biteback Publishing)
A member of staff claimed to Quinn that Camilla “hated the idea of being queen.” The unnamed aide claimed that Camilla would regularly say to Charles, “Can’t we get away from all this protocol? It’s all bollocks.” But Charles, who “hates swearing,” would reply, “You’re going to do it [become queen] for me, darling.”
Quinn claimed to Fox News Digital that even after Camilla married Charles in 2005, she was always worried about taking on the title of queen. After long being recognized as a mistress, the now 77-year-old was eager to enjoy a quieter life without the scrutiny.
King Charles and Queen Camilla married in 2005. (Anwar Hussein Collection/Getty Images)
“Everything is focused on what you do,” Quinn explained. “You’ve got the press, which, in the U.K., is sometimes very intrusive on the royal family. You’ve got the media in general, you’ve got the world’s press, television — everything is focused on what you do.”
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King Charles III was adamant about making Camilla his queen, royal author Tom Quinn claimed. (Paul Ellis – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“[But] Charles continued the relationship, as it’s well known, through his marriage to [Princess] Diana,” Quinn shared. “It was only because Charles wouldn’t give up that Camilla is queen. But I also think, as she got older, she realized that she could manage being queen. She could manage the lifestyle that Charles couldn’t escape. And that’s why, in the end, I think they did get together and marry.”
In his memoir “Spare,” Prince Harry, right’ wrote that he and his brother Prince William, left, begged their father not to marry Queen Camilla. (Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images)
But the king’s children, Prince William and Prince Harry, were said to not be keen on having Camilla as a stepmother, let alone a future queen consort. Quinn claimed in his book that the brothers “could be cruel about Camilla,” nicknaming her “Lady Macbeth,” “Cruella de Vil” and “The Witch of the West.”
But their pleas for Charles not to marry Camilla fell on deaf ears.
Prince Harry has had a strained relationship with his father, King Charles III, and his brother Prince William following his royal exit in 2020. (Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images)
“Many of the staff said to me that Charles’ reliance on Camilla is very much like William’s reliance on [his wife] Kate [Middleton],” Quinn explained. “Charles relies on Camilla for stability and warmth and all the emotional stuff that he didn’t get as a child. And that’s why he couldn’t give her up.
“They did brilliantly to turn Camilla from someone who was widely disliked, even hated, because she was seen as the other woman in Charles’ relationship with Diana. And now, she’s very well-liked, which was a very difficult thing to do. And it speaks volumes about her.”
“In a way, it’s a very romantic story,” Quinn reflected. “They didn’t give up on each other.”
The former Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced in 1996. The Princess of Wales passed away a year later at age 36. (Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
It took years for many in Britain to forgive Charles, the man whose admitted infidelity brought such pain to “the people’s princess” before she died in a Paris car crash in 1997. But the public mood softened after Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005, and she became the Duchess of Cornwall.
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Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles at Ludlow Races, where Prince Charles was competing, in 1980. (Getty Images)
Although Camilla played a significant role in the breakup of Charles’ first marriage, she eventually won over many Britons due to her down-to-earth style. She also softened Charles’ hard edges and made him appear more approachable.
In February 2022, Queen Elizabeth II expressed her “sincere wish” that Camilla be known as “Queen Consort” when Charles ascended to the throne. The queen, England’s longest-reigning monarch, died in September of that year at age 96.
Royal author Tom Quinn claimed Camilla didn’t want to face further scrutiny as queen. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Royal aides had suggested that Camilla didn’t want to be called queen and “intended” to be known instead as “Princess Consort,” which would have been a first in British history. But the careful use of the word ‘’intend’’ led to the possibility of change later on.
Queen Camilla is seen here following her coronation in 2023. (Getty Images)
When Camilla was crowned alongside her husband in 2023, she officially became known as “Queen Camilla.”
Months before the coronation, Harry opened up about his stepmother.
A person at home in Edinburgh, Scotland, watches the Duke of Sussex being interviewed by ITV’s Tom Bradby two days before his controversial autobiography “Spare” was published in January 2023. (Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)
In interviews leading up to the January 2023 publication of his memoir “Spare,” Harry accused Camilla of leaking private conversations to the media to burnish her own reputation. He also accused members of the royal family of getting “into bed with the devil” to gain favorable tabloid coverage, singling out Camilla’s efforts to rehabilitate her image after her longtime affair with his father.
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“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,” he told CBS. “There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street.”
Writing about his father’s wedding to Camilla, Harry says: “I had complex feelings about gaining a stepparent who, I believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.”
Still, he says he wanted his father to be happy.
“In a funny way, I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?”
Prince Harry claimed in his book that Camilla was “the villain” and used him for “P.R.” (James Vellacott/Getty Images)
In his book, Harry said that both he and William had previously “begged” their father not to marry Camilla, worried she would become a “wicked stepmother.”
Prince Harry didn’t mince his words when it came to his stepmother Queen Camilla. (Getty Images)
Charles is said to not be taking any of Harry’s phone calls — and for one royal author, it’s easy to see why.
“When Harry branded his stepmother Camilla a ‘villain’ in his book and revealed that both he and William initially begged their father not to marry her, Harry committed what Charles regards as a cardinal sin,” Christopher Andersen, author of “The King,” previously told Fox News Digital.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive for the Trooping the Colour ceremony on June 15, 2024. (Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
“No one disses Camilla in royal circles and gets away with it — not even a son of the king,” Andersen warned.
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Sources close to Prince Harry previously claimed to People magazine that King Charles III hasn’t answered Prince Harry’s letters or phone calls. (Ben Stansall/Getty Images)
Anderson also noted that Harry’s explosive memoir was a major blow to his father.
“I think Charles could forgive Harry for some of the trouble he’s caused — including bailing on the monarchy… slamming his brother William for bullying behavior and suing for royal protection when visiting the U.K. But Charles is having a hard time forgiving Harry for taking what he sees as gratuitous potshots at his beloved Queen Camilla,” he said.
Several royal experts claimed to Fox News Digital that Queen Camilla has been supportive of King Charles, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in 2024. (Mark Cuthbert/Getty Images)
“This still remains a thorn in the king’s side,” Andersen claimed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
