Princess Diana Praised Queen Camilla as 'Loyal' —While She Was Having an Affair With King Charles

It was unheard of for Princess Diana to praise Camilla Parker Bowles, the alleged third person in her marriage to Prince Charles. While Diana is still relevant to the old and new generations despite being dead for over 27 years, Parker Bowles has always been viewed as a homewrecker. However, a royal veteran reporter claimed that Diana once told him that Parker Bowles is 'loyal.' 

Jennie Bond, who met with Diana a few times in the '90s, spoke about the Queen Consort, "It must be so gratifying to have earned widespread approval — even affection — from a public who once ganged up against her as the 'marriage breaker' and the 'other woman' who made Diana so unhappy," as per The Royal Observer, adding that Diana once told him "Camilla was 'loyal' and that Charles' love for Camilla was stronger than any marriage he might ever have made." 

Apparently, Parker Bowles was in Charles' life long before Diana came into the picture. The Queen Consort met the now King at a polo match and instantly hit it off as friends. An immediate attraction between them led to a serious love affair despite both being married to their respective partners, Andrew Parker Bowles and Diana. And from there began Diana's struggle to win back her husband. 

Charles and Parker Bowles reignited their lost love from the 70s amid the monarch's marital woes with Diana. Penny Junor, a royal expert, wrote in her book, The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown, "Instead of explaining to Diana at the outset that Camilla was an old girlfriend, he had presented her as nothing more than a friend," as per Good Housekeeping. 

Author Junor further added that Charles "loved the fact that she [Camilla] laughed at the same silly things as he did. He also liked that she was so natural, easy, and friendly. In short, he was very taken with her, and after that first meeting he began ringing her up." But after he got engaged to Diana, he "reassured her that from now on there would be no other women." However, as the world now knows it, Charles failed to keep his promise. 

When the unconventional love story between Charles and Parker Bowles was unfolding, Diana decided to confront her husband's mistress. She told her biographer Andrew Morton, "I was terrified of her. I said, 'I know what's going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that,'" per PEOPLE. Parker Bowles responded, "You've got everything you ever wanted. What more do you want?'" Diana replied, "I want my husband." 

Parker Bowles divorced her husband in 1995 and Charles and Diana followed suit in 1996. After Diana's tragic death in 1997, the now-king slowly began to introduce his first love to the royal family and it wasn't until 2005 that they officially tied the knot.