Even though they didn't marry until 2005, Prince Charles has said that he realized now-wife Camilla Parker Bowles was his "soulmate" in December 1972.
The big realization came to Charles during a weekend he and Camilla spent together before an eight-month deployment he had scheduled with the Royal Navy, but he didn't make his feelings clear to her, according to royal biographer Robert Lacey.
Because they had made no real commitments to each other, Camilla ended up getting engaged the following spring to her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles had a long road to their happily ever after, but Charles actually knew she was his "soulmate" before either of them married other people.
It was December of 1972 and Charles was set to sail for the Caribbean with the Royal Navy in the new year—a trip that was going to last into the fall of 1973. Before the deployment, Charles took Camilla to Portsmouth to see the ship he would be sailing on and then, the next weekend, the couple went to the Broadlands. As Charles wrote in a sad note to Lord Mountbatten, it was "the last time I shall see her for eight months."
It took 35 years, according to Lacey, but Charles eventually pointed to that last weekend as "the moment when he first realized for sure that he wanted to marry Camilla—that she was his life's soulmate. But he did not have the courage to tell her properly or strongly enough."
"Charles declared his love, but not his hand. He whispered sweet nothings, but said nothing of substance. He made no commitment and he asked for none," Gyles Brandreth, author of Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair, wrote in 2005. "Sometimes, the actions we do not take are indeed more significant than those we do."
Charles and Camilla did come back to each other, infamously engaging in an affair when Charles was still married to his first wife, Princess Diana. They eventually wed in 2005.
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Side-By-Side Photos of Princess Diana In 'The Crown' vs. Real Life
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(Image credit: Netflix)
Originally Worn In May 1981
The newly engaged couple were photographed before their wedding at the Craigowan Lodge on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland. While it must have been hard to find a sweater as iconic as the pink one, would it be a crime to say I love the blue a little bit more?
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In November 1988
The one-shoulder gown of my dreams by Catherine Walker was seen at a dinner at the British Embassy in Paris, France, hosted by the British Ambassador to France. I will say I love the bright hues of The Crown's revamp.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In July 1981
The wedding dress to end all wedding dresses, Emma Corrin, who plays Diana, said 10 people had to help her put on the replica of Diana’s gown. The famous piece had some help from the original designers, Elizabeth and David Emanuel; they gave the show their patterns of the original dress to make their own crazily accurate version.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In July 1981
Polo match chic much? Princess Diana was seen wearing these iconic yellow overalls with a floral blouse at a polo match at Cowdray Park Polo Club in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. On The Crown, they added a floral knitted cardigan to the ensemble, and frankly, we're obsessed.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In July 1986
Instead of rollerblading through the halls of the royal palace, Princess Diana wore this outfit to play with her sons outside on Highgrove's grounds.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In September 1980
Before becoming a princess, Diana loved to wear sweater vests with feminine blouses while working at the Young England Kindergarten School in Pimlico, where she worked as a nursery assistant. Paying homage to her younger years would be nothing without the initial necklace around her neck.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In April 1987
At the Cannes Film Festival in France, Princess Diana wore a flowing chiffon blue ballgown designed by one of her favorite designers, Catherine Walker. The Queen's cousin, Lady Elizabeth Anson, once spilled that Prince Charles knew early on in their marriage of her massive popularity, reportedly telling aides, "They've come out to see my wife, they haven't come out to see me."
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In 1980
Before becoming a royal, Princess Diana had a thing for exquisite collars, like this lettuce trim sweater with a light jacket thrown over it. "Fashion might not have been a priority, but she loved to experiment," said her stylist Anna Harvey to Britain Vogue.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In March 1983
This very, very blue number was seen on the couple's first overseas tour together, a six-week tour of Australia and New Zealand with a 10-month old Prince William along for the ride. It was the first international trip for the 22-year-old and the first tour that William had ever been on.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In March 1983
Another great outfit was worn during the Australia and New Zealand tour! Diana wore a frilly blue gown by Bruce Oldfield to a gala dinner and dance at the Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. It's estimated during the tour that the couple shook around 2,000 hands per day, leaving Diana's with red and sore hands every evening.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In June 1981
At the London premiere of the Bond film For Your Eyes Only, Diana wore a red and gold spangled chiffon gown by Bellville Sassoon. The event took place a month before their royal wedding. Di, Prince Charles, and Princess Margaret were all in attendance.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In November 1980
Post-engagement, Diana was photographed leaving her apartment wearing a Christmas-y patterned cardigan. Her pie-crust-collar blouse was tied with a bow-tie detail that added a whimsical touch to the outfit.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In September 1982
At the Braemar Highland Games in Scotland, Di wore a marvelous button tartan suit by Caroline Charles and a tam o'shanter hat. She would later re-wear the suit to attend a tree-planting ceremony in Hyde Park a month later.
(Image credit: Netflix + Getty Images)
Originally Worn In July 1981
Diana wore a high-neck blue floral dress to their hour-long wedding rehearsal at St. Paul's church. Funny enough, First Lady Nancy Reagan was also in attendance at the pre-wedding event. "The thing I remember most was how young she was, young and happy," said Reagan on meeting Diana before her wedding. "I was sure it was going to be a wonderful marriage. We all thought it would be. It really did seem like the fairy tale that people still talk about."
Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
