It was 36 years ago that Charles met Camilla at a polo match. A very fitting beginning that he should meet the love of his life in the setting of the game he loves so well. He was the heir to the throne of England. She was the great-grandaughter of his great-great grandfather’s mistress. She could not know then that she would ascend to a place that her great-grandmother did not attain.

The next year Charles joined the Navy. Although he continued a relationship with Camilla and even was seen on a date with her at a nightclub in 1972, he was well aware that the feisty Camilla was not the virgin bride that duty called him to take. She must have been aware of this as well. In 1973, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles.

Although Charles was linked romantically with several women in the next few years, he remained close to Camilla and even as his relationship with Diana Spencer came to the news, so did rumors of an affair with Camilla.

The world watched the fairy tale wedding of Charles and Diana. It wasn’t for Charles that we watched, but for this pretty and engaging young girl, seemingly shy, clearly in love and with a prince! It is no wonder that the wedding captured the imaginations of so many. But sadly, like most fairy tales, it simply wasn’t true. I believe Charles put effort into his marriage but they simply were too different, she was too young, her disappointment too great. Her unhappiness grew, their marriage crumbled, his unhappiness grew, his relationship with Camilla became more important. Blame is laid on one more than another depending on the perspective of the one judging, but I believe that even a mistake made in good conscience can only produce more mistakes.

Through years of tabloid notoriety, through years of tears and agonizing choices, through divorces and the death of a princess, the world has watched and there was a time when the marriage of Charles to Camilla seemed impossible and even distasteful to most. He was the future king, divorced already and forbidden remarriage. She was the most hated woman in the British Isles.

After the death of Diana, Charles assiduously went about changing the opinion of both the public and the royal family about Camilla. It is a testament to his true love for her, a love that has spanned three decades.

Perhaps the marriage of Charles and Camilla is more of a fairy tale romance than we were wont to believe his marriage to Diana was all those years ago. No beautiful young princess, no horse-drawn carriage, no fanfare, just a simple civil ceremony attended by only a very few that did not even include the Queen. Their eventual happiness shines as a beacon of hope for middle-aged romantics, that there is a second chance at happiness, that there is such a thing as “true love” and that we are never too old to discover and claim it as our own.