Who is Camilla, Britain’s new Queen Consort?

Camilla’s early life

Camilla was born as Camilla Rosemary Shand on July 17, 1947, to British Army officer-turned-wine merchant Major Bruce Shand and his wife Rosalind. The latter was the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe, thus making Camilla related to the British aristocracy through her mother’s side. One of her maternal great-grandparents, Alice Keppel, was King Edward VII’s mistress from 1898 to 1910.

The eldest of three children, Camilla and her siblings were “children of privilege and affluence,” according to The Guardian. In Gyles Brandreth’s book Charles and Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair (2007), Camilla herself describes her childhood as “perfect in every way”. In the same book, Brandreth writes, “Camilla is often described as having had an ‘Enid Blyton sort of childhood’. In fact, it was much grander than that.”

Education and meeting Charles

Camilla did not pursue a university education, and at the age of 16, attended the Mon Fertile finishing school in Switzerland (a finishing school is a place where young ladies, almost exclusively from the upper classes, are taught social etiquettes as a form of entry into high society).

After this, she studied French and French literature at the University of London Institute in Paris for six months. In 1965, she was a debutante (an upper class young woman who is being formally presented to society) in London, where she met Charles, 18 months her junior. The two had to keep their relationship covert, but they were occasionally photographed together by the press.

First marriage and divorce

Despite their strong compatibility, Camilla was “not on any list of eligible spouses as Charles searched excruciatingly publicly for a bride,” according to The Guardian, owing to her status as a commoner. In the late ‘60s, she met Andrew Parker Bowles, who was a British Army officer, and married him in 1973. They had two children together, and divorced in 1994 after living separately for years.

It was also during this time that cracks were beginning to appear in Charles’ marriage to Diana, who belonged to one of the oldest royal families in England. Unlike Charles and Camilla, who had several interests in common, Charles and Diana were distanced in both age and interests. Additionally, they had barely known each other before getting married.

In a 1995 BBC interview, Diana famously said, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” She also refuted the claims that she and Charles didn’t have shared interests, and said that it was an attempt in the media to portray her as “stupid”. She had also once famously called Camilla a “rottweiler”.

Getting back together with Charles

In 1980, a year before Charles and Diana married, Camilla and Charles resumed their relationship, and in 1992, their affair became public knowledge after the publication of the “Camillagate tapes”. These were transcripts of intimate conversations between the lovers that were secretly recorded— Charles famously expressed a wish to be Camilla’s tampon in these tapes.

Charles refused to end his relationship with Camilla, and despite efforts at reconciliation made by his family, he and Diana separated in 1992, and subsequently finalized their divorce in 1996.

Public vilification and the rebuilding of her image

For a long time, Camilla was the subject of public vilification in the UK, and widely considered responsible for the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage. After Diana’s death in an accident in Paris in 1997, public opinion of her continued to be negative.

However, a careful public relations exercise was orchestrated by Camilla and Charles and his advisers to improve public perceptions of her, and their relationship. Camilla was “introduced” to Queen Elizabeth II in 2000— this was their first meeting since Camilla and Charles’ relationship became public. Elizabeth later invited Camilla to her Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002, where she sat in the royal box behind the queen.

This public relations exercise was accompanied by a shift in society’s approach to topics like adultery and divorce. In 2005, the only real opposition to Camilla and Charles’ marriage came from the conservative evangelical fringe. The Church of England did not consent to marry the couple outright, but the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, agreed to conduct a blessing after a registry office wedding in Windsor.

Marriage to Charles

Charles and Camilla’s marriage is considered a success, with Camilla herself being regarded as ‘friendly and approachable’. Charles too is seen as ‘less grumpy’, and visibly happier at public events.

Since the title Princess of Wales was considered to be closely associated with Diana, Camilla adopted Charles’ other title and became the Duchess of Cornwall. With concerns about a possible pushback from the public, Clarence House, the residence of the Prince of Wales, announced in 2005 that Camilla would use the title Princess Consort when Charles accedes to the throne.

She was the first to assume the title of Princess Consort in the United Kingdom; however, according to a 2017 report in The Guardian, “the formulation has no historical or legal meaning” as British common law dictates that wives of kings are known as Queen Consorts.

After being asked in an interview with NBC in 2010 if Camilla would become the Queen of England after he takes the throne, Charles stated, “That’s, well … We’ll see, won’t we? That could be.”

Elizabeth cleared the air in February this year, before her platinum jubilee, when she announced that she wanted Camilla to take the title Queen Consort after her passing, and not Princess Consort as it had been originally planned. “And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that times comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service,” she said.