King Charles and Queen Camilla are once again at the centre of royal revelations, as Valentine Low royal correspondent and acclaimed author releases his latest exposé, Power and the Palace: The Inside Story of the Monarchy.
Serialized in The Times, the book goes beyond pageantry to reveal how politics and the Crown have intertwined in recent years, offering stories that are both startling and deeply human.
One of the most striking accounts centres on Queen Camilla’s teenage years. As a schoolgirl, she bravely fought off an attempted sexual assault, striking her attacker with a shoe and immediately reporting him to authorities.
The incident, which she recounted years later to then-Mayor Boris Johnson, is said to have shaped her lifelong advocacy for survivors of sexual violence.
The late Queen Elizabeth II is also thrust into focus. Despite her strict public impartiality, Low claims she privately expressed support for the UK remaining in the European Union, remarking, “We shouldn’t leave the EU,” while simultaneously criticising Brussels bureaucracy as “ridiculous.”
Low also turns his lens on the inner workings of Charles’s household, describing a high-pressure environment of shifting directives and internal rivalries.
More than gossip, this is a serious portrait of the monarchy’s hidden world.