FROM a nervous first meeting to a reportedly icy attitude later in life, Princes William and Harry share a complex relationship with their father’s wife.
The Duchess of Cornwall entered their lives shortly before their mother died and the trio have gone on to endure a number of ups and downs as a family.
Most recently, the Queen said it was her “sincere wish” that the Camilla will one day be known as Queen Consort, gaining differing responses from her grandchildren.
William, 39, was said to be “supportive” of the move and “respectful” of his grandmother’s decision.
Meanwhile Harry, 37, is yet to comment on the news – breaking his silence only to pay tribute to his late mother instead.
Referring to how Princess Diana changed the global perception of HIV and Aids in a talk raising awareness of the condition, Harry said: “I could never fill her shoes.”
According to the Daily the Mail, the Duke of Sussex may as well have said “and nor could anyone else” hinting at a snub worlds away from his once gushing Camilla remarks.
During a TV interview for his 21st birthday in 2005, Harry said he and William “loved her to bits”.
“She’s a wonderful woman and she’s made our father very, very happy, which is the most important thing,” he added.
“Look at the position she’s come into. Don’t always feel sorry for me and William, feel sorry for her.
“We are grateful for her . . . we’re very happy to have her around.”
Harry said then she has “always been very close” to him and William, insisting she is “not the wicked stepmother”.
But the Daily Mail reports the relationship between the brothers and the Duchess was always awkward and tense and was often a case of ‘one step forward, two steps back’.
As William’s 16th birthday approached in June 1998, the Prince of Wales suggested a meeting between Wills and Camilla, with the then Mrs Parker Bowles said to be the nervous one – later said to have reached for a drink.
When they met formally for the first time, the meeting was said to have gone well.
But when it was subsequently leaked, teen Wills was said to have reacted angrily, reportedly believing the move to have been a PR stunt to help salvage his dad’s public image.
The Daily Mail adds that as boys, Camilla had made them laugh, but as adults their attitudes changed to one of “icy indifference”, where they saw her only as the woman who had married their dad.
The arrival of Meghan in Harry’s life had initially helped repair Harry’s bond with the duchess, and Camilla reportedly said Meghan was “a very, very nice girl”.
But the aftermath of the Sussexes’ bombshell Oprah interview, in which Harry took a number of damaging swipes at his family, is said to have changed everything.
Harry has rarely spoken about Camilla since his gushing comments on his 21st birthday.
And there is now concern his upcoming memoir could be highly critical of the duchess.
William’s rift with Harry has undoubtedly brought Charles and William closer together and possibly even reshaped William’s thinking about Camilla.
But whether Wills will publicly support Camilla should she face hurtful claims in the biography, remains uncertain.
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