The Truth About Prince William's Tense Relationship With Camilla Parker Bowles' Daughter Laura
Prince William and Prince Harry had an incredibly tough few years when they were younger — from watching the dissolution of their parents' marriage to their father, Prince Charles, moving on with Camilla Parker Bowles so soon afterward, and finally losing their mother, Princess Diana, all in quick succession. Despite their privileged upbringing, it was a lot for the boys to take, and those years continue impacting both of them today, as reported by The Mirror. As William explained in a documentary, "There was all that to contend with. I don't pretend we're the only people to have to deal with that, but it was an interesting way of growing up."
Following Diana's shock passing, in 1997, Charles and Camilla held back on announcing their relationship to the world, per Town & Country. Notably, she wasn't introduced to the boys until the following year, memorably quipping "I need a gin and tonic" afterwards (via The Irish Times).
These days, Camilla's relationship with Prince William and PrinceHarry is significantly better, but it's taken a long time and a lot of work to get to this point. In fact, when her relationship with Charles was in its infancy, William fought consistently with one of her children over it.
William and Laura would fight over their parents
Watching your parent's relationship fall apart so publicly couldn't have been easy, especially since there was infidelity involved, and it turns out Prince William and Prince Harry weren't the only ones suffering. According to Express, in her book "Harry and William," royal expert Katie Nicholl detailed how William and Laura Lopes, Camilla Parker Bowles and ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles's daughter, took it particularly hard and were frequently at each other's throats as a result.
"William and Laura used to have terrible fights over who was to blame for their broken homes," Nicholl revealed. A family friend shared how, "William would blame Camilla for all the hurt she had caused his mother, which would send Laura into a rage." As Express reports, Laura, meanwhile, fought back, pointing out how, in her view, Prince Charles had destroyed her family. The two kids had a similarly tough time at school because of the highly-publicized affair between Charles and Camilla. Laura would even intercept the future king's calls to her mother.
"When Charles telephoned Camilla at the family home in Wiltshire, Laura would pick up an extension and shout down the receiver, 'why don't you stop calling mummy and leave our family alone?'" Nicholl wrote. Things have settled down considerably in the years since — Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall along with Prince William and Catherine Middleton, trotted out as the new royal "Fab Four" at official events, per Express.
This is where William and Camilla stand today
Prince William allegedly feels completely fine about Camilla becoming queen someday, solidifying how far they've come in the years since she first got together with his father. As an insider explained to Daily Mail after Queen Elizabeth confirmed Camilla Parker Bowles would be known as Queen Consort once her husband became king, "His relationship with the Prince of Wales is better than it ever has been. He is not particularly close to his stepmother but they get on perfectly well and are quite the blended family now."
The source added, "He also respects his grandmother and her judgment more than anything in the world. If it is right for her, then it will be right for him." As The Mirror notes, William and brother Prince Harry weren't publicly photographed with Camilla until 2001, as their families worked hard behind the scenes to make the transition as easy as possible for everybody involved.
The outlet also explained that royal author Penny Junor recalled in "Prince William: Born to be King," how a palace source told her, "I think the relationship between them all is warm now but if I'm honest, it wasn't then. I think they found it hard." They added, "To be fair to Camilla, she never tried to be mummy but she was the 'other woman' and she was there and taking daddy's time." Thankfully, they got there in the end.