Queen Elizabeth did not want son Charles to marry Camilla and didn't attend their wedding

It seems the late Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t keen on her eldest son Charles’ relationship with his second wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. Royal family members reportedly didn't think Camilla was a suitable match for the then king-to-be. According to Cosmopolitan, the pair met way back in 1970 and dated for a whil but eventually married other people, Charles to Princess Diana and Camilla to Andrew Parker Bowles. However, after Diana's death in 1997, both of them were divorced and wanted to officially be together. This was an obstacle for the couple's union as they would have to the Church of England where the Queen was the head. Traditionally speaking since the two were divorced, it was a strict no-no for the church. The two ended up tying the knot at Windsor Guildhall on 9 April 2005 instead. Both Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip did not attend as a symbol of upholding the COE's values as the two were not allowed to marry in the Church of England. However, it seemed that the senior royals gave the couple the green light as both the Queen and Prince Philip later hosted a wedding reception for the pair and even took part in religious blessing at St George's Chapel.

The road to happily ever after wasn't without its fair share of obstacles for the couple. According to British investigative journalist Tom Bower, the Queen herself did not support her son getting remarried to Camila. ET Canada reports that the book Rebel Prince: The Power and Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles revealed that the Queen who was drunk on “several martinis,” told Charles that she would not allow his adultery to continue. She was also furious with Camila for not letting the marriage between Charles and Diana heal. The book alleged that the Queen even called Camilla “that wicked woman” adding, “I want nothing to do with her.” 

The Queen also had a complicated relationship with Charles' first wife, the late Princess Diana.  Royal biographer Ingrid Seward noted in her book The Queen and Di that while the queen was “understanding of Diana’s difficulties” she did not know how to help Diana's emotional torment when things were rocky between her and Charles, reports The New York Post. Seward wrote, “A footman said, ‘The princess cried three times in a half an hour while she was waiting to see you.’ The queen replied, ‘I had her for an hour — and she cried nonstop.'” Added Diana’s private secretary Patrick Jephson in the Channel 5 documentary Two Golden Queens, "that there was a communication problem between two very different generations. Between two strong women,” according to Jephson. “There was a certain school of traditional royal thought that Diana should stop being silly.” The British monarchy was a symbol of traditions and old-school values, and when Diana came in as a newcomer with her vivacious personality and free spirit it surely ruffled more than a few feathers in the establishment. When Princess Diana died, the Queen issued a statement saying “I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness. I admired and respected her – for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion to her two boys."

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Geoff Pugh - WPA Pool