Free Diana's Nightmare - The Family by Chris Hutchins, Peter Thompson Page B

matters of the heart. Camilla, it was said, had been introduced to Charles at a polo match and taking the bit between her teeth, had teased him: 'My great-grandmother was your great-great-grandfather's mistress - so how about it?' Alice Keppel, Camilla's great-grandmother, had indeed been the courtesan of Albert, Prince of Wales, later the bearded lothario Edward VII known to the masses as 'Good Old Teddy'. When Diana heard about this opening gambit, she marvelled at the woman's audacity. Such a full-frontal approach to any man, let alone the heir to the throne, was beneath her dignity. This was only the first of many occasions that caused her to wonder about Camilla's barefaced cheek.
    At twenty-five, Camilla had been a year older than the Prince, a lively, confident, well-endowed young debutante with an unsanitized sense of humour that matched his own. Above all, she was a blonde and the Prince adored blondes. Charles, whose self-deprecating manner masked a highly active libido, didn't think too deeply. He accepted the invitation. History was about to repeat itself.
    Camilla's confidence stemmed in no small measure from the fact that her family were not only extremely well-connected but exceedingly rich. Alice Keppel had two children, Violet by her husband, and Sonia, it was believed, by Edward VII. Violet married Denys Trefusis in 1919, but it emerged from letters and diaries published after Violet's death that she had been the lesbian lover of Mrs Harold Nicolson, better known as the author Vita Sackville-West. Sonia married the third Baron Ashcombe, a member of the Cubitt dynasty, who, as well as projects for royalty, had built most of Belgravia for the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Estate. They had two children, Harry, the present Lord Ashcombe, and Camilla's mother, Rosalind. Bruce Shand, born on 22 January, 1917, went to Sandhurst after Rugby and won the MC twice during World War II. After the war, he built up his own business as a Mayfair wine merchant. He and Rosalind were married in 1946.
    The first of their three children was Camilla Rosemary, born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July, 1947, a Cancerian like Diana. With her sister Annabel and brother Mark, she was raised at The Laines at Plumpton in Sussex, and whereas Diana excelled at swimming and tennis, Camilla thrived on blood sports. She was hooked, so to speak, fox, stock and barrel. After a bracing introduction to school life at Dumbrills near her Sussex home, Camilla was educated at the Queen's Gate School in South Kensington. This private academy attracted girls from well-to-do families whose main interest was procreating an upper-class lifestyle. More energetic and shapely than beautiful, Camilla was never as ravishing as Alice Keppel, who had completely captivated Charles's philandering forebear.
    It hadn't mattered that Alice was already married to an Army officer, Colonel George Keppel. Marriage was more a useful cover than a hindrance in the louche society Edward frequented. 'No woman was safe in his company,' said the royal historian. To the despair of his mother Queen Victoria, Edward maintained a string of mistresses, the most famous of whom was 'The Jersey Lily', Mrs Lillie Langtry. Alice started a passionate, twelve-year affair with him, which ended only on his death in 1910. 'There was a twenty-seven-year age difference between them,' said the royal historian. 'She made no secret of their affair and they often went out as a couple. She used to say, "Curtsy first - then leap into bed". But it can't have been easy. Edward became so gross from over-eating that he had to be strapped into a hanging harness, complete with footrests, to enable him to make love.'
    If Alice's daughter Sonia, Camilla's grandmother, were actually the King's illegitimate child, then Charles and Camilla were second cousins several times removed. By all accounts, they were soon doing more than kissing.
    Their affair began after Charles led Camilla on to the dance