The Prince of Wales, the elder son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana of Wales, is heir to the British throne

Prince William and Queen Camilla have put on a united front to support King Charles, who is battling cancer, but things weren’t always so cordial between them.

Royal expert Hilary Fordwich claimed to Fox News Digital that, at first, the heir to the British throne had no love for his stepmother after witnessing the messy, public breakdown of his parents’ marriage.

“Prince William initially couldn’t stand Camilla,” Fordwich told Fox News Digital.

 “[But] he has come to appreciate her steadfast dedication to duty. They have become closer and have bonded over their spouses coping with cancer treatment.”

“Prince William initially couldn’t stand Camilla. [But] he has come to appreciate her steadfast dedication to duty. They have become closer and have bonded over their spouses coping with cancer treatment.”

— Hilary Fordwich, British royals expert

“Camilla has a calming influence on King Charles. Prince William appreciates that she also makes his father happy,” Fordwich added.

Fordwich’s claims came shortly after it was revealed Camilla isn’t afraid to put William in check whenever she feels he’s being disrespectful to his father.

Robert Jobson, author of the new biography “Catherine, Princess of Wales,” recalled one incident when William and wife Kate Middleton asked to join Charles and Camilla’s security convoy leaving Windsor Castle. In an excerpt published by the U.K.’s Mirror, the royal correspondent claimed that the younger royals kept the older couple waiting, to Camilla’s dismay.

Jobson wrote that Camilla told Charles to leave the pair behind to prove a point to William.

“When Charles was kept waiting several minutes for the couple, Camilla insisted they go without them,” Jobson wrote. “As William and Catherine emerged, all they could see were the blue flashing lights of the motorbikes disappearing in the distance.”

The book noted that Camilla would often give William “subtle” reminders of the hierarchy.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told Fox News Digital the palace had no comment about Jobson’s book. A spokesperson for Kensington Palace, which handles the offices of William and Kate, didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Christopher Andersen, author of “The King,” told Fox News Digital it took some time for Camilla to build the courage to stand up against her stepson.

“Camilla was so terrified at the prospect of meeting William that when she finally met him at Clarence House, she was trembling like a leaf and needed a vodka and tonic afterward,” Andersen claimed. “That seems perfectly understandable since Camilla — and the world — knew she had destroyed the marriage of William’s parents, Charles and Diana.”

Whatever true feelings William might have had for Camilla, he kept a poker face, Andersen claimed.

“William was very cordial to Camilla, and their relationship has always been civil,” he said. “That is in part because Camilla has been shrewd enough not to ever try to instruct William in any way. The fact is, despite her earthly reputation, Camilla is not a mom type. She was never a hands-on mother with her own children and certainly would not have interfered in Charles’ relationship with his children.

“Camilla is certainly no disciplinarian,” said Andersen. “That said, she is also (known) to whisper in the king’s ear about what she sees as William’s and Harry’s shortcomings.”

British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital the king and his heir have bumped heads over the years. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if Camilla gave her beloved husband her two cents about his sons.

“Prince William hasn’t always seen eye to eye with his father,” Chard explained. “They are regularly at loggerheads as they differ opinion-wise on so many topics. Their leadership style also differs greatly.

“Prince William thinks things through carefully and [acts] quickly to get the job done,” Chard shared. “He is less emotional than his father and can be deemed as stubborn, as once his mind is made up, he doesn’t budge. He takes a harder stance on things as opposed to his father, who is more emotional and leads with his heart.

“King Charles finds it harder to make decisions, especially when those decisions involve family,” Chard continued. “Prince William is a modern royal who wants to create change within the royal family. He has always been more popular than his old-school father. Prince William’s popularity used to be a thorn in his [father’s] side, but now that Charles is king, he isn’t as envious.

“Queen Camilla, King Charles’ rock, always makes sure that Prince William is aware of his possible disrespect towards his father where necessary. [But] Prince William and Queen Camilla get along fairly well now. They both respect each other’s strengths and realize that when it comes down to it, although Prince William and King Charles disagree on certain protocols, they all need to support each other.

“They have to keep the ship afloat even through ill health.”

While the relationship between William and Camilla has improved over the years, the king’s younger son cast his stepmother as a villain in his 2023 tell-all, “Spare.”

In televised interviews to promote his memoir, Prince Harry accused his stepmother, 76, of leaking private conversations to the media to burnish her own reputation. He accused members of the royal family of getting “into bed with the devil” to gain favorable tabloid coverage, singling out Camilla’s efforts to rehabilitate her image with the public after her longtime affair with his father.

“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,” Harry told CBS. “There was an open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street.”

The allegations about Camilla were particularly sensitive because of her role in the breakdown of Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana, Harry’s mother.

The late Princess of Wales once described Camilla, who carried out a long-term affair with Charles, as the third person in their marriage. While many members of the public initially shunned Camilla, she has won fans by taking on a wide range of charitable activities and has been credited with helping Charles appear less stuffy and more in tune with modern Britain.

Writing about his father’s 2005 wedding to Camilla, Harry said, “I had complex feelings about gaining a stepparent who, I believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.” Still, he says he wanted his father to be happy. 

“In a funny way, I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?”

Harry added that he and William both “begged” their father not to marry his long-term paramour, worried she would become a “wicked stepmother.”

“I think people have to realize that the one thing that Charles finds unforgivable is criticism of Camilla,” Andersen previously told Fox News Digital.

“There’s no criticism of Camilla,” Andersen added. “And, unfortunately for Harry, Harry said some pretty devastating things about her. He made it clear that he felt she was … the villain in the piece. I think that still bothers the king, and I don’t know that it will be easy for him to [forgive]. I don’t think they’ll ever forgive Harry for that.

“[He’s] on his own,” Andersen added, referring to the Duke of Sussex.

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Source: USA Today