Long before Prince William and Kate Middleton became the Prince and Princess of Wales, they were just two young adults navigating the beginning of a relationship, which included a shocking three-month split back in 2007. And while it may not have lasted long (and the couple is currently happily married with three children), additional details surrounding the split have revealed what  — or rather, who — may have played a key role in the royal breakup.

According to royal expert Christopher Andersen, none other than Queen Consort Camilla Parker-Bowles reportedly had a hand in ending Kate and William’s relationship. “I was in London when the breakup [of William and Kate] occurred,” the expert told The Daily Beast in 2016. “I was shocked, completely stunned, everyone thought it was only a matter of time before William was going to ask Kate to marry him. And then people started telling me that Camilla was behind it.”

Andersen added, “Camilla is a bit of a snob. She’s an aristocrat, she has always been moving in royal circles. She had always thought of herself as the heiress to Alice Keppel, her great-grandmother, who was the mistress of Edward VII,” he explained. “She was very proud of that connection, she boasted about that as a child and as an adult and that’s what she intended to be; part of the royal circle in the role of mistress to the future King, and then the King.”

It was due to this viewpoint, Andersen maintained, that Camilla allegedly didn’t believe the Princess of Wales was good enough for William. 

“She did not look at Kate as someone who was worthy of joining the Royal Family,” the expert shared. “Kate is the first working-class woman to be accepted into the Royal Family. She is descended from coal miners and her mother was a flight attendant.”

While Andersen explained that he was told at the time of the breakup that Camilla “whispered in Charles’s ear” that it was time to “force” William to make a decision regarding his relationship, he added, “It has been since confirmed publicly that Charles did suggest to William that he either make a commitment to Kate or basically set her free, as it were. Now, his motives for doing that may have been pure but Camilla’s…not so much. She was the instigator of this.”

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