A new report by Express alleges that one royal stood in the way of both Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle being given the title of Princesses upon their marriages to Prince William and Prince Harry.
Royal experts suggested to the publication that it was Camilla Parker Bowles, the second wife of Prince Charles, that could be the reason why the two women were instead given the titles of Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex on their wedding days.
Middleton married Prince William in 2011 and Markle wed his brother, Prince Harry, in 2018.
Royal historian Kate Williams and royal contributor Victoria Arbiter alleged to Express that although she has the legal title of Princess of Wales, Parker Bowles instead was bestowed the title of the Duchess of Cornwall after marrying her longtime companion Prince Charles in 2005, and that is the title she prefers to use.
Arbiter further suggested Parker Bowles took the other formal title in deference to the late Princess Diana, who died in 1997. The original Princess of Wales, Princess Diana wed Prince Charles in grand style in 1981 and the couple had two sons, Princes William and Harry.
Williams noted, per Express , that this is the reason the new generation of women who have been added to the royal family do not have the title of princess, following the lead set by Parker Bowles.
Parker Bowles and the late Princess Diana had a contentious relationship through the late princess’ marriage to Prince Charles. Diana was aware that her husband still had feelings for his former love, and the two remained very close throughout Charles and Diana’s marriage and Camilla’s marriage to first husband Andrew Parker Bowles. This led the late princess to famously state during an interview with Martin Bashir in 1995, two years before her untimely death, for the British show Panorama that, “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” in referencing her marriage to Prince Charles and his affair with Parker Bowles, reported the Mirror .
Bashir also asked the princess, “Do you think you will ever be queen?” to which she replied that she doesn’t. She then stated that she would “like to be a queen of people’s hearts, in people’s hearts,” but not necessarily the queen of England, reported the Mirror .
Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997, in Paris, France. History reported that the princess and her companion, Dodi Al-Fayed, planned to have a meal at the restaurant inside the Ritz Hotel, but had to leave due to interruptions from the press. Later that night, they left the hotel to return to Al-Fayed’s Paris apartment. The couple was then allegedly followed in their car by the paparazzi. French driver Henri Paul and one of the Princess’ bodyguards, Trevor Rees-Jones, were also in the car with the couple. It was later determined that Paul was driving too fast in an alleged attempt to escape photographers who were trailing the couple in both cars and on motorcycles and crashed into a pillar of the Pont d’Alma Bridge.
Al-Fayed and Paul died at the scene, Diana was pronounced dead at a Paris hospital several hours later. Rees-Jones survived the crash.
