‘Okay, let’s risk the biscuit.” It was May 2000 and the Prince of Wales was talking as he was about to become lord high commissioner of the Church of Scotland — the first time a royal prince had held such a position since 1927.

Bestowed by the Queen, the role was a much appreciated indication of support from his mother and a serious increase in the tempo of his public work in Scotland. It meant a week of high-profile engagements designed to drive support for Charles and a direct encounter with the notoriously conservative Church of Scotland.

Planning for the week was intense, with a team from his office journeying to Scotland most weeks for several months. A small fortune was spent putting on a show at Holyrood Palace the like of which had never been seen before (nor has been since).

The question for which we did not have an answer was what to do about Camilla Parker Bowles. In most cases we could figure out the best course of action for ourselves — but this time it was beyond our collective pay grades to do so. Charles would have to decide on his own.

If Camilla came, we risked offending the church and shocking public opinion. “We mustn’t frighten the horses,” was the prince’s repeated plea whenever he thought the public was being pushed too hard. But if Camilla did not come, Charles was in danger of looking shifty and furtive.

Then the prince had a brainwave: ask Elizabeth Smith (John Smith’s widow, now Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill). He had a deep respect for her shrewd knowledge of Scottish culture and attitudes. She rose to the challenge: “Scotland respects honesty. If the relationship is genuinely serious, of course Camilla must come. How else will people get used to them?” Charles had to make the final decision. After pacing round his study with a few twitchy advisers, he uttered those vital words: “Okay, let’s risk the biscuit.” So Camilla joined him on that important week — having been spirited up there on a private plane and risking the wrath of the Queen if all went awry.

What happened? Well, the prince left Scotland with headlines claiming “He came. He saw. He conquered”. Relief all round — and a certain knowledge that the strategy of being honest was working.

A WISH for the truth of their relationship to be understood was at the core of the prince’s plan for himself and Camilla. The bitter and damaging years of the war of the Waleses had left plenty of emotional debris: there were two divorces, four displaced children and — soon after — a tragic death.

It was an unholy mess. The prince was under pressure from his family to move on from Camilla.

Camilla was, frankly, a wreck and under immense strain. The fact that they chose to commit to each other — and fight, against all the odds, for a future together — was truly noble.

It certainly was not the easy option and in the years that followed Charles displayed a degree of determination, loyalty and — at times — sheer ruthlessness that was a lesson in how the royal family has survived 1,000 years.

I remember after one especially savage beating by Buckingham Palace — I think following Camilla’s first appearance at a palace concert — when Charles speculated what would have happened to us all 400 years ago: “I’d be sent abroad, Camilla would be locked in a tower in deepest Wales and you . . . well, a bloody public execution lasting at least a week!” The prince received little solace from his family and had to endure unrelenting hostility from many parts of the Establishment. Support came from normal members of the public and from politicians either too radical (Peter Mandelson) or too wise (John Wakeham) to let the hostile ravings of Buckingham Palace prevent them from giving the right advice.

Mandelson’s support for Camilla and the way he helped to restore Charles’s belief in himself during that unhappy period should not be underestimated. For about a year after the general election in 1997 “What does Peter think” became a regular refrain on the morning telephone call — although that all ended after Mandelson’s first resignation from the government when Charles was too nervous even to write to him wishing him well.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• The playboy and the Tory party leader
• Bin Laden's family tree is impenetrable jungle
• Paul McCartney