Excerpt from an article in The Mail on Sunday
"CAMILLA PARKER BOWLES plotted to remain the Prince of Wales's lover while encouraging him to marry Diana, according to claims made by a close relative of Parker Bowles in the Mail on Sunday. She thought the young Lady Di would be easy to manipulate and would be no threat to her own place in Charles's heart, claimed Camilla's former brother-in-law Richard Parker Bowles.
He described her as a "steel fist in a velvet glove", who privately ridiculed Diana as "batty" and "rode roughshod over other people's emotions".
Mr Parker Bowles told the newspaper: "Knowing all the players in this drama - the Prince, Diana and Camilla - it is Diana who I feel most sorry for."
"The fact is that if Camilla had been a child on the beach, she would have knocked other children's sandcastles down. She is a wrecker at heart. She doesn't like to see other people happy."
Mr Parker Bowles goes on to describe how Camilla often talked about Diana in the cruellest personal terms. He said that Charles's mistress referred to Diana as "gormless", thought Diana was bonkers", and on one occasion told her brother-in-law: "Have you heard, she has gone absolutely batty?"
Mr Parker Bowles added: "She initially encouraged the relationship between Charles and Diana because she thought Diana was gormless."
"Over the years Camilla did intimate to me that she thought Diana was either half-witted or quite mad. But she never stopped putting Diana down in private. Camilla didn't mock the princess in public, only in the intimacy of a family group. One was very much led to believe that the Princess of Wales was unstable.
He said: "Camilla knew that as a woman with a past, she would never be accepted as Charles's wife. But she also thought Diana was someone whom she could manipulate.
"Camilla knew she would keep Charles's heart, which she has done. She never wanted to marry Charles; she wanted to continue to be his paramour but her game plan was to stay married to Andrew."
"She is made of teak. She should have backed off if she truly loved Prince Charles."
"But she wanted two things from her life: to retain her special relationship with the Prince of Wales, and a marriage to someone she was genuinely fond of."
"She and my brother Andrew were close she had known him for seven to eight years before they were married but towards the end Andrew's position as a cuckold became untenable."
He said Camilla "drove a wedge" between her husband Andrew and his mother. And he claimed she passed on untrue stories about his own behaviour to his wife, hastening their split. He said: "Never forget one thing about my ex-sister-in-law: she is a very forceful personality. Camilla was always very strong and got her own way. She stood her ground on almost everything, especially where men were concerned, and she most certainly saw other girls off. "
