How Camilla Parker Bowles Tormented Princess Diana On Her Wedding Day

Everybody knows Prince Charles had an affair with his ex-girlfriend, Camilla Parker Bowles, during his marriage to Princess Diana. However, not everybody knows that Camilla was actually on the guest list when the royal couple got hitched in 1981.

With more than 2,500 people in attendance, Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981, was one of the biggest royal weddings in history. Although many envied Princess Diana’s fairy-tale-like journey into being a royal, the Princess of Wales actually married Prince Charles that day with a boulder on her chest.

Before their wedding, Princess Diana learned that her soon-to-be-husband was still having an affair with his ex-girlfriend, Camilla. In the documentary “Diana: Her True Story — In Her Own Words,” the princess herself revealed that on the day of their wedding, she explicitly looked for Camilla in the crowd as she walked down the aisle.

“I knew she was in there, of course,” she said. “I looked for her. So walking down the aisle, I spotted Camilla, pale grey, veiled pillbox hat, saw it all, her son Tom standing on a chair. To this day you know — vivid memory,” she added.

Princess Diana revealed that after learning that Prince Charles was still in love with his ex, she had developed some serious bitterness toward Camilla, and that feeling continued until years after the royal wedding. It turns out that even though it has been years since they parted ways in the early '70s, Prince Charles and Camilla had remained close friends — hence her name on the guest list.

That time, Camilla was already married to Andrew Parker Bowles, who also happened to be the Commanding Officer in Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding procession. Aside from the fact that Prince Charles invited her to their wedding, Camilla was also there to accompany her then husband, who was assigned to oversee the ceremonial escort that accompanied the new royal couple’s carriage ride through London.

The palace initially disapproved of Prince Charles’ relationship with Camilla. After Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s divorce was finalized, however, Prince Charles continued his affair with Camilla until he finally married her in a civil wedding ceremony in 2005. From being a mistress, Camilla is now the second wife of Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall.