Fans of The Crown may find it difficult to ship Charles and Camilla, but those two were always endgame, in my opinion. In his 2020 book, Battle of the Brothers: William and Harry, royal historian Robert Lacey said Prince Charles knew Camilla Parker Bowles was his “soulmate” before any of them married other people — but Charles didn’t act on his sentiments at the time. According to Lacey, Charles recognized he intended to marry Camilla on a trip to the Broadlands in December 1972. Soon after, Charles set off with the Royal Navy for the Caribbean, where he didn’t see Camilla for eight months.

Camilla married her first husband, Captain Andrew Parker Bowles, a few months after Charles left. By July 1973, the couple had married. Lacey claimed in his biography that Charles eventually pointed to that last weekend in the Broadlands as “the moment when he first realized for sure that he wanted to marry Camilla—that she was his life’s soulmate, but he did not have the courage to tell her properly or strongly enough.” After missing out on Camilla, Charles began dating Lady Diana Spencer in 1980, and she soon became his wife. His heart, though, remained with Camilla.

Charles and Camilla stayed close even after they married other people – maybe too close. Charles and Diana famously had an affair for years before splitting in 1992 and divorced in 1996. Camilla’s divorce was finalized in 1995. Charles and Camila married in a civil ceremony in 2005, a decade and more than 32 years after that weekend in the Broadlands. Despite the fact that Charles’ parents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, hosted a reception for the newlyweds at Windsor Castle, they did not attend the ceremony.

Aside from their tumultuous first marriages and sensational affairs, Charles and Camilla have had a rather epic romance… However, if Charles had made his move during that weekend in 1972, the palace would have saved itself a lot of trouble. Just a thought.