Post by Joanna on Apr 24, 2018 6:45:44 GMT -5
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Frightened by Dumfries Ghost
Camilla, the 70-year-old Duchess of Cornwall, was once so scared by a mysterious spirit lurking in the shadows of her husband’s Dumfries (above) project in Ayrshire, Scotland, she refused to visit the stately home. Her alarm at the eerie presence put her off visiting the house because she froze when she felt the ghost move. The Duchess made the revelation in a documentary called The Real Camilla, which aired on ITV last night.
The house was dilapidated and saved only because the Prince of Wales decided the building should undergo extensive restoration a decade ago. The Georgian edifice has now been restored to its past glory.
Camilla spoke of the house in the documentary. “If you could have seen it when the Prince first spotted it, you wouldn’t have believed it was the same house,” she explained. “It was so sad and un-lived in, unloved and neglected. And it had a really eerie feel about it. There was definitely a ghost. Without a shadow of a doubt. I remember the first time I walked up the steps,” she recalled, “got into the hall and I thought I can’t go any further. I literally froze. If my hair could stand on end, it would have done. I remember leaving and thinking I don’t want to come back here again and I didn’t for a few years.”
The prince and his team began work to transform the house in 2008. A team bought the property and its furniture for £45 million and he put another £20 million of his own money into the project.
After the work was completed, Camilla said the house seemed completely different. “Whatever was there had disappeared,” she claimed. “The whole thing seemed to be smiling again.”
The Duchess of Cornwall (with Prince Charles above) added that she now enjoys hearing the sound of the ticking clock while staying at the house. “I love hearing clocks striking together,” she continued. “We’ve got 10 or 11 grandfather clocks that were collected by the Queen Mother. They are all supposed to strike at the same time, but they never do. However much you wind them, they’re always out of sync.”
A year went into filming the documentary on the Duchess. It appears to be part of a charm offensive by Clarence House, show the close relationship between the Duchess and Prince of Wales as they enter their 70s.
The Duchess of Cornwall has faced an uphill slog getting the British public to like her after it was revealed in the 1990s that she and the Prince of Wales were allegedly having an affair with while he was still married to his late wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997.
The documentary also features Camilla’s nephew Ben Elliot, who said his aunt will make a wonderful Queen when Charles becomes King. He explained the secret of Charles’ success as king will be the support of his doting wife, Camilla. “As we’ve seen with our current Queen, she’s been a great queen because she’s been assisted absolutely brilliantly by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. And when the Prince of Wales eventually becomes our king, with my aunt next to him, he will be a great king.”
Since Camilla, 70, married Prince Charles, 69, in 2005, it has been widely-speculated that she would be given the title “Princess Consort,” however, it is rumored that Camilla wishes to become the nation’s queen.
Source: Belinda Robinson, The Express, April 24, 2018.
