Here's What King Charles & Queen Camilla Are Really Like When The Cameras Aren't On

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, may be in love, but their romance was hardly the stuff of fairy tales. In the 1980s, the couple carried out an extramarital affair, prompting the king's then-wife Princess Diana to publicly label Camilla a "rottweiler" (via Reuters). The British public largely sided with Princess Diana against Camilla, who quickly became the most-hated woman in Britain. As for King Charles, Olivia Waxman wrote in Time: "The revelations of infidelity ... left him ... deeply unpopular."

In an interview with Vogue, Camilla opened up about her struggle with the wrath of the British media. "It's not easy ... Nobody likes to be looked at all the time and, you know, criticized," she admitted. Eventually, however, Camilla learned to deal with the hardship. "I was scrutinized for such a long time that you just have to find a way to live with it," she explained.

Luckily, the British public eventually realized that then-Prince Charles and Camilla were not the two-dimensional villains portrayed by the press. In her book "The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and The Love Affair That Rocked The Crown" (per Vanity Fair), Penny Junor discussed how Camilla's true personality clashed with her public image. "When people met [Camilla], they were surprised by how warm and friendly and funny she was," Junor wrote. Similarly, in The New Yorker, Zoë Heller noted that King Charles lacks the sense of "degeneracy" once invoked by the media.

While King Charles III enjoys eccentric philosophies, Camilla Queen Consort is more interested in having a good time. And according to royal expert Ingrid Seward, Camilla has hardly ever lacked for fun. In an interview with the Channel 5 documentary "Camilla Before Charles," Seward revealed that Camilla had been the life of the party since the 1960s: "Camilla's friends all loved her ... She was always the one at the center of everything. She was terrific fun. Boys adored her because she was funny and characterful ... She was very, very popular." By some accounts, the future Queen Consort allowed this popularity to shine during nights out. As royal family specialist Tom Quinn told Channel 5 in the same documentary, "[Camilla] was famously a party girl in the mid-60s. And, you know, she might go to three parties a night, five days a week! I mean, she was extraordinary. She absolutely loved partying" (via YouTube).

Although the "Swinging London" of the 1960s has long disappeared, Camilla has refused to age out of having fun. In 2004, writer Kate Mosse unknowingly bumped into Camilla in a party venue's restroom, according to Penny Junor's book "The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and The Love Affair That Rocked The Crown" (via Vanity Fair). As they waited for a bathroom stall to free up, the two women had what Mosse later called "a women's locker-room moment." Camilla was, in Mosse's words, "a hoot."

King Charles III is not the only person who Camilla keeps on their toes. On the contrary, the Queen Consort has a long history of rebelling against anything from social norms to the authority of politicians. During her adolescence, Camilla broke the rules of what was once considered "appropriate behavior" and smoked cigarettes. In the documentary "Camilla Before Charles" (via YouTube), Camilla's childhood friend Broderick Monro-Wilson spilled some details about the personality of the future Queen Consort. "She was slightly rebellious. She shared a room with my second wife. And, of course, smoking was a forbidden thing. But, anyways, she was definitely smoking as a teenager," Monro-Wilson divulged.

Throughout the decades, Camilla has continued to question authority. On several occasions, she has even mocked politicians of global importance. The Daily Mail reports that at the COP26 Summit in 2021, Camilla overheard President Joe Biden as he "broke wind." A source told the outlet that, "[Biden's flatulence] was long and loud and impossible to ignore ... Camilla hasn't stopped talking about it." This episode came just two years after Camilla poked fun at ex-President Donald Trump at a 2019 press conference. According to Harper's Bazaar, the future Queen Consort waited for Donald Trump to turn his back before shooting a pointed wink at members of the media. Much of Twitter interpreted this gesture as a surreptitious way to comment on a joint event that some critics considered "absurd."

While King Charles III revolutionized the crown's approach to emotions, his life partner kept busy fighting against social injustices. Over the years, Camilla, the Queen Consort, has been involved with over 90 charities (per Vanity Fair) and has participated in activism against sexual violence. As reported by People, Camilla gave a groundbreaking speech that condemned rape culture in 2021. She reportedly stood before a crowd at the Wow Foundation's Shameless! Festival and stated: "It takes an entire community — male and female — to dismantle the lies, words, and actions that foster a culture in which sexual assault is seen as normal, and in which it shames the victim."

Camilla's dedication to social equality is much more than a publicity stunt: Camilla is reportedly poised to help those in need. In 2021, the chief executive of the Royal Voluntary Service, Catherine Johnstone, chatted with Hello! about Camilla's humility and willingness to serve others. "A very special memory I have of [Camilla, Queen Consort] was on a visit to one of our lunch clubs," Johnstone shared. "One of the older diners with sight issues asked whether [she] would cut up her food. Her Royal Highness immediately started cutting up her meal without hesitation. This is just one example of [Camilla's] kind nature."

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

In front of the cameras, the British royal family may seem like a cohesive unit; however, behind closed doors, the family is fragmented. When King Charles III was growing up, he barely had contact with his mother. As related in a piece by Time, the then-prince's first word was not "mama" but rather "nana," a term he used to refer to his nanny. Perhaps, then, it is natural that the former Prince of Wales did little to foster a close relationship with his sons. In the documentary "Prince Charles and Camilla: King and Queen in Waiting?" (via YouTube), former Royal Press Secretary Dickie Arbiter explained the distance between the future king and his two little boys. "Charles wasn't the ... hands-on dad that [Princess Diana] would have expected," Arbiter revealed. 

Despite King Charles's past shortcomings as a father, he seems to enjoy being a grandfather. According to the BBC documentary "Prince, Son, & Heir: Charles at 70" (per Bustle), Prince William cannot get enough of King Charles's grandfathering. "I would like him to have more time with the children," Prince William told BBC. "When he's there, he's brilliant." In the same documentary, Camilla agreed with Prince William's assessment. "[King Charles] reads 'Harry Potter' [to his grandkids], and he can do all the different voices ... He will get down on his knees and crawl about with them for hours, you know, making funny noises and laughing," Camilla revealed. 

Perhaps due to their relationship's rocky start, King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, are careful about maintaining their image as a couple. As a result, the pair has a history of rehearsing their public appearances behind the scenes. The most famous incidence of this occurred in 1999 at the 50th birthday celebration of Camilla's sister, Annabel Elliot. According to The Mirror archives, Camilla and then-Prince Charles decided to use the festivities as an excuse to make their first-ever public appearance. Thus, the duo pre-meditated every aspect of their image and even called their plan "Operation Ritz." The 1999 Mirror article reported, "During the planning, [then-Prince Charles] is said to have joked, 'I am not going to hold her hand or give her a kiss.'"

Nonetheless, despite the couple's history of rehearsals, not all of their public engagements have gone down without a glitch. One notable scandal occurred in 2017 when then-Prince Charles and Camilla were visiting Canada. According to Global News, the duo attended an Inuit throat singing performance called "katajjaq." However, the event video (via Today) shows that the couple began to laugh — presumably at the singers — in the middle of the performance. King Charles and Camilla's reactions led many Twitter users to accuse them of disrespecting an indigenous culture, according to Digital Spy. Canadian indigenous communities have spent years asking the British crown to confront its violent colonial legacy (per CBC).