On a cold Thursday night outside the Ritz 26 years ago today, the Royal Family changed for ever.
Just before midnight on January 28, 1999, the Prince of Wales and his long-term love, Camilla Parker Bowles, stepped out in public for the first time as a couple.
Due to the darkness of the Mayfair side street, the around 200 photographers illuminated the road as they snapped the couple in a blizzard of camera flashes.
The size of the press hoard caused the British Epilepsy Association to urge broadcasters not to use the footage on TV in case it triggered seizures.
Although the general public was led to believe the meeting was by chance, the run-in had actually been scrupulously choreographed between the Palace and the press.
The images froze the royal couple in time – Charles sheepish, Camilla petrified – after they had spent the evening at the 50th birthday party of Camilla’s sister, Annabel Elliot.
Up until that point Charles, then 50, and his former mistress, then 51, had gone to great lengths to avoid being seen or photographed together in public.
Although the action of their leaving the party was over in seconds, it had important ramifications for their future public life together.
It signalled their relationship was finally official and Charles was seen smiling briefly to the assembled media just before he and Camilla were driven away in the waiting Vauxhall Omega.
Just before midnight on January 28, 1999, the Prince of Wales and his long-term love, Camilla Parker Bowles, were pictured stepping out in public for the first time as a couple
The images froze the royal couple in time – Charles sheepish, Camilla petrified – after they had spent the evening at the 50th birthday party of Camilla’s sister, Annabel Elliot
The flashes caused by the 200 photographers caused the British Epilepsy Association to urge broadcasters not to use the footage on TV in case it triggered seizures
The Ritz ‘coming out’ was the apex of the finely tuned strategy to win the British people round to the idea of the ‘non-negotiable’ woman in Prince Charles’s life.
Everyone knew about Camilla at this juncture of course, but she had always remained out of sight – and for good reason.
Had Princess Diana not died in that Paris tunnel on 31 August 1997, the acceptance of Camilla as a future queen might have been far easier.
Diana was universally adored by the public and her tragic death continued to cast a long shadow.
For many, when Charles confessed to adultery in his bombshell 1994 interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, Camilla was public enemy No 1, irredeemably the other woman.
Camilla later admitted in a rare interview the media scrutiny that imprisoned her in her home after the shocking death of Diana was ‘horrid’, saying: ‘I wouldn’t want to put my worst enemy through it.’
And compared to the glamorous and doe-eyed Diana, she stood no chance in the court of public opinion.
They were already on her side following Andrew Morton’s 1992 bombshell book and Diana’s cold anger that ‘there were three of us in this marriage’ in the infamous 1995 Martin Bashir interview.
The Ritz ‘coming out’ was the apex of the finely tuned strategy to win the British people round to the idea of the ‘non-negotiable’ woman in Prince Charles’s life
Everyone knew about Camilla before The Ritz coming out, she had always remained out of sight
For many, when Charles confessed to adultery in his bombshell 1994 interview with Jonathan Dimbleby (pictured), Camilla was public enemy No 1, irredeemably the other woman
Most of the public were already on Diana’s side following her cold anger that ‘there were three of us in this marriage’ in the infamous 1995 Martin Bashir interview
After years of separation, the Prince and Princess of Wales finalised their divorce in 1996
The sad truth was, as royal historian and author Robert Lacey said: ‘By the time of her death Diana had reached a rapprochement with Camilla’, according to The Guardian.
Diana seemed to be moving on with her own life, allowing Charles to begin his campaign for a second marriage with Camilla.
The man in charge of masterminding the complex operation was spin doctor Mark Bolland.
He was known as the prince’s ‘golden boy’ and due to his extraordinary influence was labelled by the Daily Telegraph as ‘the real power behind the future King of England’.
His Machiavellian reputation in public relations, caused him to be dubbed ‘Blackadder’ by Charles’ young sons William and Harry after the scheming comic character created by Rowan Atkinson for the eponymous television series.
But in truth, Campaign Camilla – the name given to the operation to endear her to the public – had begun 18 months earlier.
In June 1997 invitations started appearing: come and join Camilla Parker Bowles for a party in aid of her charity, the National Osteoporosis Society.
Newspaper editors and a sprinkling of celebrities and publishers were sure to attend. The idea was to present Camilla in a new, softer light. But then Diana died, and the party was abandoned.
The man in charge of masterminding the complex operation to bring Camilla out of the cold and resurrect Charles’ image was spin doctor Mark Bolland
Bolland was known as the Prince’s ‘golden boy’ and due to his extraordinary influence was labelled by The Daily Telegraph as ‘the real power behind the future King of England’ (pictured with Charles)
Charles and Camilla pictured leaving The RItz in 1999 for their first public outing
The front pages of the daily papers the next day all carried the pictures, and were generally positive, although not glowing due to the widespread Diana support of the readership
As the years progressed Bolland took every opportunity to show Charles as a loving father and concerned single parent, while trying to win public acceptance for Mrs Parker Bowles.
Nine months after the crash in Paris that claimed Diana’s life, Camilla met Prince William at St James’s Palace.
At first, it was said to be a chance meeting, but this was untrue. In fact, William requested the meeting so he could ask her personally to help him organise a surprise early 50th birthday party for his father.
But the Ritz coming out was still a bold move, plotted by Bolland.
At that point the public had seen photos of Camilla on her own, as well as a couple of poor-quality shots of her with Charles taken from the bushes, but there had been no decent picture of the two of them together.
For the paparazzi, a shot of the couple together had become the Holy Grail – although Charles was determined to thwart them.
The problem meant that the couple were not able to go anywhere together because of it, and they were growing sick of it.
So Bolland devised a plan, and made phone calls to a few newspaper sources, allowing word to quickly spread of a big royal photo opportunity that night.
After the tip off from Bolland, long crews from European, Canadian and Australian news organisations came from far and wide to park their satellite trucks and put up their ladders across the road from the side entrance to The Ritz
The photographers were stacked up three deep for the royal photocall, which featured on all of the front pages the following day
Before long crews from European, Canadian and Australian news organisations came from far and wide to park their satellite trucks, put up their ladders and stake their positions, three deep, across the road from the side entrance to The Ritz.
The front pages of the daily papers the next day all carried the pictures, and were generally positive, although not glowing due to the widespread Diana support of the readership.
In her biography of Camilla, Penny Junor wrote: ‘There had been a great nervousness about that night. Many people in the prince’s office thought it was too early for them to be seen together. As one of them says: “The sky didn’t fall in”.’
‘But that was Mark (Bolland), he was always pushing things on because he wanted to get there, he wanted to achieve the goal of getting them married.’
However the move was just the first in a domino line of steps taken by Bolland to improve the couple’s image.
Just six years later they were married, Junor claims ‘something no sane person would have put money on’.
After the Ritz appearance, the campaign gained fresh momentum. Suddenly Camilla was everywhere. She and Charles were together on the yacht of a Greek businessman with four close friends.
Then came the series of parties to mark the prince’s half century, the highlight of which was the one Camilla arranged for 300 guests at Charles’s Gloucestershire home, Highgrove.
By this time it was being quietly leaked that she was spending more and more nights with Charles both at Highgrove and at St James’s Palace.
Prince Charles leaves The Ritz with Camilla Parker-Bowles after a birthday party for her sister Annabel
Nothing, though, could alter the perception that the relationship between the Queen and Camilla was as frosty as ever, according to The Mail on Sunday’s Ian Gallagher.
Yet behind the scenes, Bolland was working tirelessly and still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Charles and Camilla had taken an official trip to Scotland, staying at the Queen’s Edinburgh residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Bolland was described in Valentine Low’s book Courtiers as ‘clever, charming’ and ‘one of the most colourful and interesting players in the royal drama of the last 30 years’.
He successfully rebranded Charles to be known for his work rather than his complex private life.
During the spin doctor’s reign during the late 90s and early 00s he performed a miracle, taking Charles’ popularity rating from 20 per cent after Diana’s death to 75 per cent.
His importance even meant he was portrayed as young, dynamic and decisive in the Netflix TV show The Crown by actor Ben Lloyd-Hughes.
The key moment in his campaign came in 2000 when the Queen met Camilla at Highgrove during a party thrown to mark the 60th birthday of former King Constantine of Greece.
It was their first ‘public’ meeting and, chiefly due to the efforts of Bolland, could scarcely have been more high-profile.
But, as the years passed, Camilla learned to go her own way and quietly, steadily, it paid off and she began to find a place in Britain’s heart.
The turnaround of Charles and Camilla’s reputation following Diana’s death in 1997, eventually allowed them to get married in a humble service, with just 28 guests, in 2005
Now King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla, the pairs reputation has recovered
The couple finally wed in April 2005 at the Guildhall in Windsor, with Camilla becoming the Duchess of Cornwall, an HRH and a member of the Royal Family.
These days Camilla is admired for her charity work, taking on issues such as rape and sexual abuse, domestic violence, literacy and medical issues including juvenile diabetes and muscular dystrophy.
Detractors have accused her of laziness, but even if she does not pack in as many engagements as some royals, she connects effortlessly with the public.
Warm and witty with an infectiously throaty laugh, she does so without sacrificing dignity or upstaging her husband.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, she began to support her husband as he took up the role of King.
And when Charles announced he had cancer in February 2024, Camilla stepped up her public engagements without him – which she’d done with aplomb, despite the fact she’s not a ‘natural’ in the role, according to Princess Anne.
State banquets, State Openings of Parliament, royal tours and even joint engagements as the Queen have become the norm for Camilla – 20 years on from a brief, but momentous appearance as she headed home from a party.
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