As Marie Claire previously reported, Queen Camilla and Prince William bonded this year through their shared harrowing experience of witnessing their spouses battle cancer. There is a genuine warmth between the stepmother and stepson, who have reportedly had a “strained relationship” for years, and have grown much closer in recent months. Former BBC royal correspondent Jenny Bond told OK earlier this year that an “unlikely” bond was formed through the conflagration.

“Recent events have obviously brought William and Camilla much closer together,” Bond said at the time. 'They almost literally became royal nurses while the king and princess recovered. Their team would work more closely to coordinate diaries and cover planned engagements.” Camilla and William must be in closer and more regular contact. (Bond's comments were made before the king returned to ostensible royal duties on April 30, and the princess attended two major ceremonies this summer, Trooping the Colour in June and Wimbledon earlier this week, but remains largely absent from her ostensible official duties.)

“Aside from the business side, I'm sure they have helped each other mentally,” Bond added. They would both have been very worried by the unexpected health problems, and would have shared their concerns.”

When William was a young boy, Camilla Parker-Bowles was famously the other woman in the marriage of his parents, then Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Princess Diana famously confided her marital problems to her eldest son, and William often carried the burden of his mother's unhappiness. Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated in 1992, when William was 10, and divorced in 1996, when William was 14.

William had known Camilla for years, but they finally met when William unexpectedly told Charles that he was returning to London from Eton for the weekend: in The Life of Queen Camilla, royal author Penny Juneau caught Prince Charles off guard. She writes that Camilla had caught Prince Charles off guard. Camilla was staying at Prince Charles' house while Princes William and Harry were away at school, and Prince Charles insisted that she stay despite Camilla's offer to leave, dismissing her departure as “ridiculous,” the Mirror wrote. Instead, the magazine writes, “Prince Charles called William and told him he would be there when Camilla returned.”

William was due back at 7:00 that evening, and Camilla was “clearly anxious” about the meeting.

Charles broke the news to Camilla with the simple statement, “He's here,” and suggested that they “just get on with it.” Camilla and William were then left alone with each other for half an hour to get to know each other, and Camilla, always humorous, quipped, “I'd love a gin and tonic.”

But Camilla was only joking, and Junod writes that the introduction to William was successful, the young prince was described as “friendly,” and Camilla was happy to move with his pace. Camilla knew it would take William and Harry some time to get used to her, and during those early years, Camilla “would have lunch with William and drop in occasionally when he was at York House,” Juneau writes. (William and Harry moved into York House with his father in 1997, the Mirror reported.)

Eventually, the next step was for William and Harry to be seen in public with Camilla, but public relations expert Marc Boland admits that initially “there was something awkward” about it: “It was difficult for them. It was a natural thing. You want your mother (Diana), not her (Camilla). To Camilla's credit, she never tried to be a mom, but as 'the other woman' she was taking time away from her dad.” Charles and Camilla were eventually married on April 9, 2005, and today celebrate 19 years of marriage.

“As an adolescent, William took some time to accept Camilla as the ‘other woman’ in his father's life. His feelings toward her were complicated by his having witnessed his mother's unhappy marriage. But maturity brought the realization that Camilla made his father very happy, and the prince [William] now knows that Camilla is the love of his life.”