King and Queen forced to wait for Queen Mother’s death before marriage

King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort married civilly in April 2005, seven years after appearing for the first time together in public and after a lengthy PR campaign to win over the support of the British public. While the Royal Family slowly came to welcome Camilla into their folds, the couple only tied the knot after the death of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Royal author Ingrid Seward suggested the King’s grandmother had been opposed to the relationship and would not have approved of the pair tying the knot.Speaking to True Royalty’s The Royal Rota, Ms Seward said: “When Camilla and Charles made their relationship more formal, the Queen Mother was not pleased at all.”Charles never would have married Camilla had his grandmother been alive.”American author Christopher Anderson, writing shortly after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, said: “[The] beloved Queen Mum disliked Diana, but she reportedly disapproved of Camilla even more.’And while the Queen had resigned herself following Diana’s death to an eventual marriage between Charles and Camilla, she reportedly pledged not to sanction it so long as her mother was alive.’JUST IN: Prince Harry’s staff feared memoir ‘would be disastrous for couple’ after reading draft King Charles and Queen Camilla married seven years into coming out publicly with their relationship (Image: GETTY) The Queen Mother had a very close relationship with King Charles (Image: GETTY)The Queen Mother is believed to have been very critical of Charles and Camilla’s relationship since the 1970s.The pair had met during a polo match and dated until the royal embarked on an eight-month deployment with the Royal Navy, a period during which Camilla rekindled her romance with Captain Andrew Parker-Bowles and eventually married him.While eager for the heir to the throne to marry, Camilla was considered unsuitable due to her dating record – with Patricia Mountbatten, daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, telling author Sally Bedell Smith that “you didn’t want a past that hung about.”The King is known to have had a very close relationship with his grandmother and royal authors said she played a key role in arranging Charles’s marriage to Princess Diana.READ MORE: Princess Beatrice to snub King Charles as royal rules herself out of top role Charles and Camilla married civilly in April 2005 (Image: GETTY)Author Tom Quinn wrote in his book The Queen Mother: “As a grandmother, she had been very close to Charles, and it is said she played a big part in arranging the marriage between Charles and Diana.”Diana’s grandmother, Lady Fermoy, was a great friend of the Queen Mother’s. They were a similar sort of generation, and they cooked it up between them.”As the marriage between Prince Charles and Lady Diana crumbled, the Queen Mother appeared to thaw at the prospect of Charles keeping up his extramarital affair while staying married to his wife.Mr Quinn added: “The Queen Mother discussed the whole Camilla business with Charles, and she couldn’t really understand why Charles couldn’t have a mistress and somehow find an accommodation with his wife that would mean they didn’t have to get divorced.DON’T MISS Meghan Markle and Harry wade into politics with new text hotline [LIVEBLOG]’Under no circumstances’ Harry poised to hit back at Palace decision [REPORT]Kirstie Allsopp shares ‘message’ from Prince Harry’s book cover [INSIGHT] King Charles and Queen Camilla married over 30 years after meeting (Image: GETTY)”But she miscalculated because it was no longer something that could work well in the world that Charles inhabited.”There were certainly elements within the Royal Family who felt that the Queen Mother was meddling, that she was interfering in things she didn’t completely understand.”The Queen Mother reportedly advised her grandson to ensure his relationship did not evolve into a scandal after warning of the impact of the relationship between Edward VII and Wallis Simpson.Following the same approach she took on with her brother-in-law’s wife following the abdication, she also disliked having Camilla’s name mentioned in her presence.