Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles
Prince Charles gravitated towards older women like Camilla Parker Bowles due to the Queen Mother. Pictured: Prince Charles and Camilla continue to laugh after a bubble bee took a liking to Prince Charles during their visit to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary on Nov. 5, 2015 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Getty Images/Rob Jefferies

Prince Charles finds older women more attractive than younger ones for a reason.

The Prince of Wales dated a string of women before he settled down. Reports have it that Prince Charles hooked up with 21 ladies during a decade of dating before he decided to settle down with Princess Diana.

According to author Jessica Jayne, Prince Charles was actually sensitive and shy because Queen Elizabeth II would often leave him due to her royal duties. He was often left with the Queen Mother, whom he described as the “most magical grandmother” that one could have.

“The Queen Mother was huggability personified, she was tremendously affectionate and welcoming and warm and cuddly,” Dr. Piers Brandon said.

The author of “The Windsors: A dynasty revealed” noted that the Queen Mother was very different from the monarch. He described the Queen as a “very distant mother.”

For this reason, Prince Charles tends to gravitate toward older women like Camilla Parker-Bowles who is one year his senior.

“Prince Charles gravitated towards older women who gave him the kind of love and understanding that his mother seemed to fail to give him,” Jayne wrote in “Prince Charles Biography: The Life of the Prince of Wales and Future King of England.”

Prince Charles’s former girlfriend thinks the same. According to Jane Ward, the Duchess of Cornwall was warm to the future king. Camilla made the Prince of Wales feel that he has someone that he could count on.

“Camilla was to him, a safe haven, someone he could talk to,” Ward said.

Lady Jane Wellesley, who also dated Prince Charles, recognized Camilla’s influence on Prince Charles. Many thought that she would be the Princess of Wales. However, she backed out when she realized Prince Charles and Camilla’s serious relationship. She knew that she would only live on the shadow of the Duchess of Cornwall if she ended up with the royal heir.

Royal biographer Penny Junor also believes that Prince Charles and Camilla had a closer relationship than practically anybody. She said that their brains worked similarly and he didn’t meet anyone who matched him like Camilla.

Meanwhile, Princess Diana was said to be desperate to save her marriage with Prince Charles. At one point, she wanted to have more children with the Prince of Wales. The late Princess of Wales reportedly remained in love with her husband despite the latter’s infidelity.