Camilla and Kate stand together at the Queen’s funeral

They arrived to Westminster Hall together then, too, pictured somberly sitting together in the back of a car.

The duo are often seen spending time together at royal events and engagements, but they didn’t always have such an easy friendship, with their relationship initially feeling a tad frosty.

Camilla allegedly disapproved of Kate’s relationship with William, in part due to a mismatch of interests.

Royal expert Tom Quinn explained in the Channel 5 documentary When the Middletons met the Monarchy: ‘I’d heard that Camilla wasn’t very keen on Kate. She didn’t shoot, she wasn’t very interested in horses particularly. There was too much of a gap and William would feel it.’

And Christopher Anderson, author of Game of Crowns; Elizabeth, Camilla, Kate and the Throne, once claimed that Camilla tried to split up the couple (although butler Grant Harrold dubbed this fake news).

Christopher Anderson told New York Live in 2016: ‘She didn’t think Kate was worthy of the Royal Family, because Kate is working class; her mother was a flight attendant her father was a flight dispatcher, her grandparents were coal miners.

‘Camilla really thought William should marry an aristocrat; a high-born woman or a European noble or something like that.

‘She planted the idea in Charles’s ear, in 2007, after William and Kate had been together six years, that if he wasn’t going to propose to Kate, he ought to break up with her.’ 

Regardless of how much truth there is to this particular tale, it clearly didn’t matter much to Prince William, as in November 2010 he and Kate were engaged.

And at the wedding, Camilla’s three-year-old granddaughter Eliza Lopes was a flower girl… perhaps an olive branch gesture?

From the engagement onwards, Camilla and Kate appears to be fast friends, and were often seen together in public.

Camilla reportedly took on a role of advisor to Kate, and said in 2010: ‘Kate’s a lovely girl. We’re very lucky.’

Following Kate and William’s wedding in April 2011, the pair’s friendship continued to flourish, and they are now frequently seen together smiling and giggling together.

They have formed a strong bond as a result of their very unique similarity; both women are married to men preparing to be the King of England.

And Kate is rumoured to have had a calming influence on William and Harry’s relationship with their own father.

While Camilla and Charles went public with their relationship in the early 2000s – several years after the death of Princess Diana – William and Harry were not pictured with her in public until 2001, with reports of rifts and arguments being rife.

However, today, William and the King are much closer, partly because Kate worked to bring them back together. Since the birth of grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, she is said to have encouraged them to smooth over their differences for the sake of the three generations.  

Kate and Camilla’s shared experiences have deepened their bond and they have worked together in various collaborations; In Children’s Hospice Week in 2020, the Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge appeared together in emotional videos praising the ‘extraordinary’ and ‘awe-inspiring’ work done in support of children. 

She was also full of praise for Prince William’s wife-to-be, telling well-wishers during a visit to the Covent Garden of Academy of Flowers in 2011: ‘Kate’s a lovely girl. We’re very lucky. I’m very much looking forward to the wedding. One of my granddaughters is a bridesmaid. She’s only three and it will be quite nerve-wracking for a little one. But she will enjoy it.’

And they worked together to improve children’s literacy, recommending their favourite books on the Royal Reading Room project. 

Earlier this year, to mark her own 75th birthday, Camilla guest-edited the 125th anniversary edition of Country Life magazine. 

The cover shot was taken by Kate, an accomplished photographer and Royal Photographic Society. The image shows Camilla looking relaxed and smiling with a trug full of pelargoniums, ready to be planted.

Camilla said at the time: ‘She did really good pictures and you know she does it very naturally.

She was also full of praise for Prince William’s wife-to-be, telling well-wishers during a visit to the Covent Garden of Academy of Flowers in 2011: ‘Kate’s a lovely girl. We’re very lucky. I’m very much looking forward to the wedding. One of my granddaughters is a bridesmaid. She’s only three and it will be quite nerve-wracking for a little one. But she will enjoy it.’

‘We had a lot of fun doing it. It was very relaxed and of course very kind of the Duchess of Cambridge. She’s an extremely good photographer and it was all very casual, there wasn’t much hair and makeup. It was just done in the garden with lots of laughs. It was a lovely way of doing it.’ 

Kate and Camilla’s shared experiences have deepened their bond and they have worked together in various collaborations; In Children’s Hospice Week in 2020, the Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge appeared together in emotional videos praising the ‘extraordinary’ and ‘awe-inspiring’ work done in support of children. 

And though the pair rarely talk about one another publicly, Kate can often be seen wearing a bracelet that Camilla gave her as a wedding present. 

The gold link bracelet bears a single gold charm. On one side is the ‘C’ surmounted by a coronet belonging to Kate, and on the other side is the ‘C’ surmounted by a coronet belonging to Camilla.