King Charles met Camilla in secret 'Royal Love train' scandal, claims friend of Diana

The “Royal Love train” scandal involved Prince Charles and Camilla, not Princess Diana as was previously believed, insiders have claimed.

In November 1980 the Sunday Mirror published a story suggesting that Diana was smuggled on board the Royal Train at night while Charles, then 31, was inside.

The pair at that point were engaged, but not married, and the story was strongly refuted by Buckingham Palace, Diana and Charles.

In a new ITV documentary, The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, a close friend of the late Princess of Wales claimed Diana believed the real visitor was in fact the now Queen Consort, Camilla.

Speaking in the series, Dr James Colthurst said: “[Diana] was fifty miles away so it wasn't her. It had to be somebody else.

“Diana thought that the visitor was probably Camilla."

Dr Colthurst was a close friend to Diana and served as a "middle-man" between the princess and the writer Andrew Morton who interviewed her for the 1992 book Diana: Her True Story.

Also interviewed in the ITV documentary was Charles’ former private secretary, Francis Cornish, who also rejected the previous version of events.

He said: "What happens with the Royal Train is you get on it at some reasonable hour in the evening and then it goes to a siding fairly near to where you are going and then the next morning it will go in.

“What is alleged to have happened, in those articles, is that [Charles] had a date while the train was in the siding.

“I think most of the stories suggested it was Diana. It's not the only suggestion. I don't know if it took place but if it did take place I would actually be very surprised that it was Diana."

Despite the Palace’s pushback over the report, the Mirror’s editor refused to publish an apology, claiming the source for the story was a policeman who had been part of the security team on the Royal Train.

On the night in question, the Royal Train was just 30 kilometres away from Camilla’s country home.

Speaking to the Daily Mail after the story was published, Diana said: “I was so shocked. I simply couldn't believe it. I've never been anywhere near the train, let alone in the middle of the night.

“Even though they rang me up first, they printed it anyway.

“Afterwards they rang up to apologise but that doesn’t change people’s minds about what they think when they read a story like that.”

Buckingham Palace was approached for comment.