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Prince William and Prince Harry might have grown up royalty, but things weren’t always easy for them. Their parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, had a very rocky relationship, and it was only a matter of time before the boys found out about their father’s infidelity. Here’s how they learned about Charles’ infamous affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

Queen Mother with Princes Charles, William, and Harry
Queen Mother with Princes Charles, William, and Harry | Sion Touhig/Getty Images

Prince Charles and Camilla had been having an affair for a while with Diana’s knowledge

Prince Charles dated Camilla before he and Diana got together. However, Camilla was looked at as not good enough for Charles, and when Charles met Diana, it was a better fit in terms of royalty. But we can’t always pick who we love, and things never died between Charles and the woman he really wanted to be with. After he and Diana wed, he once again began seeing Camilla behind Diana’s back. Diana overheard a phone conversation with him and realized he was cheating. The affair continued for a while with her knowing before anything was done about it.

The boys knew that things with their parents weren’t going well

While Diana and Charles did their best to shield their children from what was going on, things like that can only be hidden for so long. Harry was very young at the time of the affair, so William understood things a bit better than his little brother. But the tension between Charles and Diana could be cut with a knife, and it was obvious to anyone who spent any time with them — including their children — that things between the couple were not going well.

Will found out about the affair in his own way, but Harry reportedly didn’t learn about the affair until he heard about it on television

Since Will is the older of the two boys, it makes sense that something like this would be harder to hide from him. However, Will never thoroughly explained how he became aware of his father’s infidelity. But he did know about things before Harry. In a documentary about Princess Diana, it is revealed that Harry only first heard about Camilla when the royals were discussed on television. When someone on television asked whether the public thought Camilla would ever be queen, Harry then asked who Camilla was. However, according to the documentary, Will did not get to explain it right there to his younger brother. But it’s assumed that Will talked to his brother about it another time.

Today, Will and Harry have accepted Camilla into their lives — but sources say the relationship isn’t perfect

It took a long time for Will and Harry to accept Camilla into their lives, especially after their mother died. Will and Harry were extremely close with their mother, and they were aware of how upset she was about their father’s affair. As time passed after Diana’s death and things between Charles and Camilla became more serious, the boys began to accept her into their lives. However, sources close to the royal family still say that the boys don’t have anywhere near the same love for Camilla that they had for their own mother.

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