Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer married on July 29, 1981—with Camilla Parker Bowles in attendance.
The Gist
At some point in the 1980s, Charles and Camilla began an extramarital affair, which Diana (and the rest of the world) knew about.
Diana's former bodyguard Ken Wharfe remembered the dramatic moment where Diana confronted Camilla at a party.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall for this moment.
The entire world, it seems, knew aboutPrince Charles's extramarital affair withCamilla Parker Bowles—now Queen Camilla—and so, too, didPrincess Diana, Charles's wife. Camilla was always a presence in her marriage to Charles, even attending their royal wedding on July 29, 1981. It all came to a head during what Diana later called the "bravest moment" in her marriage to Charles, which ended in 1996, almost exactly one year before she died as a result of a Paris car accident on August 31, 1997 at just 36 years old.
The former Princess of Wales's former bodyguard Ken Wharfe recounted the time Diana confronted Camilla about her affair with Charles at a party, marking a turning point in Diana's marriage, according toBrides.
Camilla's sister, Annabel Elliot, was hosting a party, and Diana was invited. Nobody expected Diana to actually show, though—but she did.
"Diana didn't have any particular friendships at that party, but when we arrived there, it as almost like freeze-framing a scene in a movie because there was this surprise that Diana had even arrived," Wharfe told ITV (perThe Mirror).
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After about an hour, Diana motioned to her protection officer. "I went out, and there was Diana, who said, 'You've got to come with me. I can't find my husband or Camilla,'" Wharfe said. "Now, I couldn't say no—clearly, this woman was in some distress, and eventually, we found the prince and Camilla [sitting] on a sofa in the basement of this property, just talking."
Upon seeing this, Diana confronted Camilla—the first time she'd ever done so, Wharfe said. "I didn't know quite what Diana was going to do at that point, but with a great deal of confidence, Diana just went up to both of them and said to Camilla, 'Please don't treat me like an idiot. I know what's going on,'" he remembered.
"And Camilla sort of said something, to which still to this day I have never really understood what she meant by that is, 'Well, you know, you have two wonderful boys,'" Wharfe said. "Well, it was an incredible moment for me, and certainly them as well. That was a defining moment in their life because I think at that point…this was an indicator the end was nigh."
Charles and Diana ultimately separated in 1992, and their divorce was finalized four years later. In a 1995 interview, Diana famously said, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded"—and eight years after Diana's 1997 death, Charles and Camilla themselves married in 2005.
Read the original article onInStyle