Angela Levin's new book Camilla: From outcast to Queen Consort is a fascinating read

From the moment Charles, now king, started a relationship with Diana Spencer in the summer of 1980, Camilla Parker Bowles has been painted as that woman.

She was once named the most hated woman in Britain, she's been booed in public on several occasions, compared to horses by the British tabloids and dubbed "The Rottweiler" by Diana herself.

In 1993, she was vilified after the release of the Camillagate tapes, yes, that Tampax one.

In 1995 Diana's admission to Martin Bashir that "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded", sealed Camilla's fate.

Regardless of the fact that Charles and Diana had pretty much been living separate lives since 1986, before they officially separated in 1993.

When Diana was killed in a car accident in 1997 the public once again turned on Camilla (and the royal family).

Diana, beautiful and charismatic, the "People's Princess", was beyond reproach, despite all her known flaws. Camilla was an outcast.

It's only now, 40 years on, that the world has begun to warm to Camilla.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth in September, Camilla, a 75-year-old woman who loves dancing and gardening, has became Queen Consort.

She's now the sixth most popular member of the royal family. (Behind the late Queen, Catherine, William, Princess Anne and King Charles; Harry is ninth, Meghan 13, just one ahead of Andrew.)

I've always been a fan of Camilla. Most of us with some sense know fairytales aren't true. Sure, I tuned into Charles and Diana's wedding on July 29, 1981, along with 750 million other people. Diana was beautiful, only 20 years old, Charles was 32.

Two sons in quick succession, an heir and a spare (and aren't we all keen to get our hands on that book when it's released in January).

It was like a fairytale. But one that was obviously doomed from the start.

From the moment Charles and Camilla met each other, sometime in 1970, perhaps they were destined to be together, but were forced apart by circumstance and protocol, by social mores and political manoeuverings, until it all fell into place.

And the one thing that's remained constant for those five decades is their unwavering love for each other. The long game played well, a proper love story, not a fairytale.

"Camilla had never set out to capture a prince," says her biographer Angela Levin on the phone from London. Her latest book is Camilla: From outcast to Queen Consort.

"She and Charles started out as friends with a lot in common and an understanding of each other.

"Charles felt he could trust her, and was comfortable in her company, and although they married different people, they remained friends. He said she was 'the only woman who really understands me'."

Levin is an award-winning journalist who writes for the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail among other publications, and appears on the BBC and Sky News.

She's written several royal biographies - Diana's Babies: Kate, William and the repair of a broken family; Harry: Conversations with the prince; and Raine and Johnnie: The Spencers and the scandal of Althorp - and built up a network of trusted sources over the years, many of whom are willing to speak on the record.

She spent five weeks with the then Duchess of Cornwall in 2015 for a profile for Newsweek, observing how great she was with people, how she'd grown into her new role as wife to the next-in-line for the throne.

Then in 2019 she watched the third season of The Crown, where once again Camilla was painted in a bad light. The same happened in season four which aired in 2020.

And in 2021, after Harry and Meghan's tell-all interview with Oprah, Levin knew the time was right to tell Camilla's story.

"I wanted to bridge the gulf between Camilla's public image and what she is really like," says Levin.

"I was curious to know how she has dealt with the appalling abuse she received for decades ... and has somehow managed to come through it."

Levin has interviewed many, many people for this book, including Camilla's long-term friend Lucia Santa Cruz, who introduced Charles and Camilla in 1970.

What Levin found was that almost everyone had nothing bad to say about Camilla.

"Everyone kept on saying how authentic Camilla is; tell me something else, I'd say," says Levin.

"Even the criticism was warm, like she's a little lazy, that she isn't the tidiest of people, there was little that was malicious."

Camilla works tirelessly for her chosen charities, from literacy to health, the eldery and animals; she has a growing interest in supporting victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, where she has an uncanny way of connecting with people.

People who know her says she has a great sense of humour, is a great listener, is generous and kind.

"One person said if you had to choose one person to take into the jungle with you, they'd pick Camilla, what a wonderful compliment that was," Levin says.

One thing people forget, Levin says, is that Camilla has undergone great changes in her life in her later years. She's now a role model for many women of a certain age, working hard, happy with who she is, happy to wear comfortable shoes and rock the same hairstyle she's had for decades.

She was 57 when she married Charles, becoming the most senior female royal after the Queen. She had long known Charles was a workaholic, but didn't realise what the new position would mean for her own "working" life. She was step-mother to two grown men, with two grown children of her own.

"After the wedding it became clear that Princes William and Harry weren't as keen on Charles' second wife as it appeared but were just being polite before and at the wedding," Levin writes.

"They were both determined to hold onto their mother's legacy and didn't want their landscape to change with another woman taking her place, whatever she was like."

Levin says Camilla has never tried to be a mother to the princes, nor a grandmother to their children. Her relationship with William and Catherine has improved in recent years.

"Catherine likes her very much," says Levin. "Camilla was kind and helpful with Catherine, she knew how hard it was to settle into the royal family, and she led her through some of that ridiculous protocol."

Meghan, however, is a different story. It's hard not to steer a conversation to the woman who has perhaps taken over the role of the evil witch in the royal fairytale.

Levin's been attacked herself over some comments about Meghan, being criticised for fuelling an anti-Megan faction. She's obviously not a fan.

"I think she knocked Harry for six," says Levin.

"She's a very sexy woman, isn't she? But Meghan has her own truth."

On Twitter recently, Levin perhaps took a back-handed swipe, posting "Spare, the title of Harry's book, is desperately sad. Is that what he still thinks of himself? After all the therapy, a wife he worships and freedom he longed for, he is still full of resentment and out to get his own back. You can see it in his eyes on the cover."

One thing Camilla has never done is chase the limelight, says Levin. As a young adult, she writes, Camilla didn't yearn to make an impact on the world. Her expectation of life was to marry, have children, ride, read and spend her time in the countryside.

Instead, she is now Queen Consort, wife of the King. It meant a lot to Camilla, Levin says, when the Queen announced this in her platinum jubilee message.

The Queen didn't speak to Camilla for decades at the height of it all, worried by how the monarchy would be affected.

"The Queen blamed Camilla entirely for the marital infidelity and chose to have nothing to do with her," says Levin.

Their relationship warmed in later years once the Queen could see the effect Camilla had on Charles, how she supported him. The Queen saw that as an important attribute.

Not long after Charles and Camilla's wedding, someone noted, Levin writes, that "When history judges [Camilla], she will not be seen as the woman who nearly brought down the monarchy, but saved it."

With the fifth season of The Crown to premiere on Netflix on November 9, Camilla is once again bracing herself, says Levin. Neither she nor Charles watch it. Harry and Meghan do "from time to time" apparently. (I often wonder if she'll play herself one day.)

This season will be set in the 1990s, the decade horribilus perhaps. Dame Judy Dench, one of Camilla's close circle of friends, has led the campaign for the series to include a disclaimer that it's a fictionalised account of events and Netflix has agreed to add the note.

Yes, it is all fiction of sorts, but it's The Crown that made me an even bigger fan of Camilla. I loved the scene in episode three of season four where Camilla and Diana go out for lunch - and yes this really happened.

Then there was a scene in episode 10 of season four where Josh O'Connor (Charles) and Emma Corrin (Diana) were arguing about Camilla.

"I hug who I love," O'Connor says. "Particularly when they are affected by the selfishness of others and need cheering up."

"Who are you referring to?" says Corrin.

"Camilla."

Corrin smirks. "Why would I care about her?"

"Because I care about her," says O'Connnor, voices raising. "Morning, noon and night, I care about her. And you hurt her and if you hurt her, you hurt me. Camilla is who I want."

It's the fairytale we should have had from the start.