Many people who love the British royal family know all about Prince Charles and his affair with his now-wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. Even many people who aren't particularly interested in the royal family know about the affair.
What a lot of us don't know is that members of staff for both households helped the couple conceal their affair from both Princess Diana and Camilla's then-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.
As the story goes, Prince Charles and Camilla first met in 1970 at a polo match, where she famously told him, "My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common."
It's unknown exactly when their relationship began, but many believe it wasn't too long after that first meeting.
Royal author Christopher Andersen is pulling back the curtain on just who did (and didn't) help Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. He told Express UK that Charles' valet Ken Stronach played a key role in the deception.
The valet was reportedly "instructed to treat Camilla as mistress of the prince’s official residence, Highgrove."
He added, "A guest room was assigned to her, but after midnight the Prince of Wales would switch off the elaborate alarm system guarding his room so that Camilla could sneak in."
The staff at Highgrove even reportedly had a nickname for Charles based on the pair's late-night behavior.
"Since Charles always slept in Camilla's room and then departed before daylight, they called him 'The Prince of Darkness.'"
The author even goes on to claim that Prince Charles pulled strings to keep Camilla's husband away on official military engagements for weeks on end.
"Wielding his considerable influence to make sure that [Andrew Parker Bowle's] assignments kept him far from home for weeks or months at a time, Charles frequently called on Camilla at her house."
He went on, "Once Royal Protection officers alerted Camilla that the Prince was on his way, all lights in the house were switched off so he could pull inside the driveway without being spotted — a bit of espionage Camilla’s servants called 'The Blackout.'"
The valet even confessed to some of this back in 1995, when he breached protocol and gave an interview to News of the World. StyleCaster wrote that the valet said, "Prince Charles made love to Camilla Parker Bowles in the bushes of his Highgrove mansion while Princess Diana slept inside."
Everyone was aware of the risk, but apparently Prince Charles didn't mind.
"It was a big risk and a stupid thing to do, but he's blind to everything where the lady is concerned."
He even said that he confessed these details because it made him sick to keep pretending they didn't exist.
"All through my time with [Charles] we've all been told not to speak to anyone about anything. We’ve all kept his secrets and the strain made me very ill."
