Queen Camilla’s Long Evolution to King’s Coronation

Next week when Camilla and her husband become king and queen, it’s a big moment for her because people have judged her negatively over the last five decades. She used to be called the “other woman” even though she didn’t do anything wrong and some people thought she was bad for the royal family.

King Charles III is about to be crowned, and in the last seven months of being on the throne, people in Britain have slowly accepted Camilla. However, there are some who think she will always be known for what happened in the past.

Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine, said that Camilla has put in a lot of effort to prove to people that she isn’t a bad person, and she is always willing to do the heavy lifting. The most special quality about her though is that she stands firmly beside her husband and supports him.

Camilla, who is 75 years old, was badly attacked by the tabloids for a long time. Seward said she finally earned respect because she refused to give up and kept doing her job without complaining. She has become very popular with many British people due to her friendly and simple character, as well as all the charity work she does – especially helping those affected by domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault – which she will continue even when she becomes queen in the future.

Many people think that Camilla will never totally erase her identity as the “third person” between Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage. Arianne Chernock, a teacher who studies modern British history at Boston University, believes this too. She said that even on May 6 inside Westminster Abbey, when Charles and camilla get married, they will be aware of Diana’s presence.

Camilla Rosemary Shand, who was born in 1947 and connected to the British royal family, first met Charles at a polo match in 1970 when she was 23 years old. They quickly became close friends but Charles had to go away on navy service and their relationship got disrupted. Even today, this situation is hard to imagine!

While Prince Charles was away, Camilla married her long-time boyfriend and army officer Andrew Parker-Bowles in 1973. Then, in 1981, Charles got married to Diana. However, near the beginning of the 1990s there were some unpleasant things that Diana said about Charles and Camilla’s relationship. This caused a lot of problems for the royal family as everyone heard all the details associated with it.

In 1995, Camilla and her husband split up after Charles confessed to having an affair on television. The next year, Diana and Charles also got divorced. In 1997, Diana passed away in a car accident which made people all over the world feel extremely sad. Then, ten years later in 2005, Camilla and Charles decided to get married at a secret ceremony.

The Palace was aware that people did not like Camilla, so they slowly let her be seen in public. Every year she made lots of visits with different charities and people who met her said she was friendly, kind, and very pleasant.

Seward said that when you meet her, you don’t get any feeling that she is distant or icy. She always stays the same and this is one of her best qualities.

For a long time, people were unsure and felt sensitive about what title Camilla, who is married to Charles, should have if he became king. Last year, Queen Elizabeth II made it clear that Camilla could have the title of queen consort. This was taken as a sign that the royal family had accepted her as an important member of their group.

At the beginning of this month, Buckingham Palace’s invitations for the coronation mentioned Camilla as “Queen Camilla” for the very first time. She won’t be ruling like an actual queen instead she’ll just have a title associated with being a queen but she will still not have the rights or powers of an actual monarch. Even so, this is another step for Camilla in improving how people perceive her.

Camilla’s new title as Queen Consort doesn’t mean that everyone loves her. Even though she looked very fancy in March at her first state visit in a tiara from the Queen and a diamond necklace from Elizabeth II, people still think she is not always good.

Camilla’s attempt to improve her reputation took a hit when Prince Harry, her stepson, said that she had spread rumors about him and others to get good press coverage. He also wrote in his book that she wanted to eventually marry into the royal family for fame.

Harry and his older brother, Prince William, tried to stop their dad from marrying Camilla but at the end, they decided to accept her. However, her son Tom Parker Bowles disagreed with Harry by saying he believes Camilla married someone she loved and that is how the situation was settled.

Camilla doesn’t like discussing her personal life with the public, but she did mention it in an interview to British Vogue last year. She acknowledged that people constantly criticize her and watch what she’s doing all the time. However, at the end of the day, Camilla finds ways to ignore this and just move forward with her life.

Camilla dedicates her time to helping children learn how to read, protecting animals from harm and fighting against domestic violence, especially in situations when it affects one gender more than the other.

Chernock said that even though Camilla and Charles may be too old to completely change people’s opinion on the monarchy, it’s not too late for her to take on bigger challenges and become respected by more people.

She said that the pair have a great chance to create a space for people to talk about topics like racism, slavery and elitism. However, she believes this might be too hard for someone who never expected to become queen.

The speaker said that King Charles III will keep doing his charity work, but he won’t be able to speak up too loudly or show his beliefs since people who care about him already know what he’s thinking. He’ll just continue to do what he was doing. That’s basically how he handles things.