Former royal staff reveal how the King’s life transformed from heartache to happiness across his two marriages.
King Charles’ relationships with Diana and Camilla could not have been more different, according to those who knew him best. Two former royal butlers have shared rare insight into how the monarch’s emotional state shifted over the years—from cold distance during his marriage to Princess Diana to genuine contentment with Queen Camilla.
Paul Burrell, who worked closely with Diana for more than a decade, described moments of deep sadness from the late princess. In his book The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana, he recalled Diana confiding that Charles once told her, “I never loved you. I only married you to have children.” After the birth of Prince Harry in 1984, she allegedly overheard him say, “Well, at least I’ve got my heir and spare now, and I can return to Camilla.”
For Diana, those words crushed any remaining hope of saving their marriage. Burrell wrote that she wept through the night, later telling him, “I gave him four good years, and he was gone. And for the rest of the time, I had to pretend for the world.” Despite the heartbreak, she never wanted a divorce, believing love could still heal the damage. “There’s no doubt Diana truly loved Charles,” Burrell wrote. “The tragedy is that the feeling wasn’t mutual.”
By contrast, Charles’ second marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles, in 2005, brought a visible change. Grant Harrold, another former royal butler, described the King’s joy after their wedding. “He was so happy—everything was going well,” he told Marie Claire. Camilla’s presence, he added, seemed to calm him and fill his life with warmth.
Royal photographer Arthur Edwards, who has photographed Charles for nearly fifty years, has seen the transformation firsthand. Writing in The Sun, he called their marriage “an extremely happy union,” noting that since their modest wedding at Windsor Guildhall, the King has appeared “more relaxed, affectionate, and secure.”
Edwards summed it up simply: “The main thing I’ve noticed is that the King has become a nicer person. Thanks to Camilla, he’s calmer now. He rarely gets stressed or wound up like before.”
