Some members of the Royal Family live with the palace’s strict rules their entire lives. However, many individuals who have married into the clan lived completely normal—and sometimes quite unexpected—lives beforehand.
In the new royal biography, Divide and Rule: Royal Women and Their Battles, royal author Catherine Mayer discusses a pretty surprising detail regarding Queen Camilla’s life before marrying King Charles.
“As a debutante and young woman about town, she had managed to tread the fine reputational line between being considered fun or written off as a slapper,” Mayer writes. “Even so, she racked up too many life experiences…to be considered an appropriate partner for Charles.”
Instead, Princess Diana was deemed as an “appropriate” bride for Charles, whom Mayer notes was viewed as “the ‘sweet-charactered’ virgin bride.”
While both Camilla and Diana might have ridden horses, there’s one hobby the latter likely didn’t partake in, writes Mayer. Per the author, “[Diana] would not, however, roar around the United States on a [motorcycle], in leathers, as [Camilla] also chose to do.”
Catherine Mayer
‘Divide and Rule’
“[Diana] would not, however, roar around the United States on a [motorcycle], in leathers, as [Camilla] also chose to do.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Clearly, Queen Camilla lived quite a varied and dextrous life before she married into the Royal Family.
Since her leather-wearing biker days, Queen Camilla has carved out a role all of her own as a senior royal.
“Even intimate gatherings with [Queen] Elizabeth retained their protocols and formality,” Mayers shares. “Camilla’s is a more relaxed presence, warm, though she shivers in the frigid temperatures her husband maintains, rolling her eyes like a schoolgirl as he asks for another window to be opened and once confiding that she was wearing thermal underwear.”
“She racked up too many life experiences…to be considered an appropriate partner for Charles.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Queen Camilla might not have ridden on a motorcycle in quite some time, but it’s fascinating to find out that she once embarked on a thrilling journey—kitted out in leather.
Shop Books About the Royal Family
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‘Charles & Camilla’
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‘Yes, Ma’am’
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‘Pets by Royal Appointment’
Headline Welbeck Non-Fiction
‘War of the Windsors’
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‘Royal Trivia’
People
‘Diana, Charles, and Camilla: The Untold Story’
Ten Speed Press
‘Cooking and the Crown’
