Charles's continuing friendship with old flame Camilla Parker Bowles began a rift in the marriage, which was already fraught with serious, unsolvable issues.
Charles had dated Camilla (whose brother Mark Shand is a wellknown Indophile) in the 1970s after meeting her at a polo match. But he was apparently not permitted to marry her by the royal family because of her lack of lineage. She later married a military officer Andrew Parker Bowles and remained a close friend of Charles.
It was said that Camilla encouraged Charles to marry Diana, and took Diana under her wing and that Charles proposed marriage to Diana in the Parker Bowles garden.
Photograph: Camilla Parker Bowles with Diana in 1980. Photograph: Getty Images
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