Why Camilla will become Queen Consort, what the title means and why it wasn't expected

7 February 2022, 12:38

By Alice Dear

The Queen announced this weekend that Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, will become Queen Consort when Prince Charles ascends the throne.

As Her Majesty The Queen marked her Platinum Jubilee this weekend, the Monarch took the special occasion to announce that Prince Charles' wife, Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, will take on the title Queen Consort when her husband becomes King.

Queen Elizabeth II released the information in a statement in which she said it was her "sincere wish" that Camilla take on the title when the time comes.

While royal tradition states that the wife of a British Monarch be given the title Queen Consort, the Queen's decision to allow Camilla to take it on was not always a certainty.

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Over the years, royal reporters have speculated the title Camilla would take on when the time came for Prince Charles to ascend the throne.

Due to her highly-publicised affair with Prince Charles and the nation's love and admiration for the late Princess Diana, many believed Camilla would become Princess Consort instead of Queen Consort.

This decision would have been similar to the one taken in 2005 when Camilla married Charles and did not take on the title of Princess of Wales.

Instead Camilla became the Duchess of Cornwall, a decision thought to be made as a sign of respect for the late Diana.

While the Queen's statement says that the appointment of Queen Consort to Camilla is her "sincere wish", royal correspondent Jack Royston believes the Monarch is simply taking control over something that is inevitable.

Royston told Newsweek: "I think what the Queen’s doing here is ripping the plaster off, during her lifetime, at the point when she can absorb some of the reputational flack from it. It reflects the reality that Charles has wanted this for years and years and years, and he was going to do it come what may."

He went on: “So the way the Queen’s done it here, she’s made it her decision and her gift to Camilla, so she’s made it a story about Camilla’s acceptance by her into the Royal Family, rather than than a story about Charles putting his foot down and insisting on something that public, as far as polling goes, don’t actually want.”

While royal experts and members of the public have speculated over the years that the Queen may not have approved of Camilla, information from Penny Junor's book The Duchess reveals that on the day of Charles' second wedding, the Queen officially gave her blessing.

In an adaptation of the book written for Vanity Fair, Penny Junor claims that the Head of State made a speech in which she said: "My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.”

The full quote reads:

"Charles gave a touching speech in which he thanked “my dear mama” for footing the bill and “my darling Camilla, who has stood with me through thick and thin and whose precious optimism and humor have seen me through.” But it was his mama’s speech that was just perfect and laid to rest any lingering notion that she might still disapprove of their relationship. The Queen is passionate about horse racing, and the date coincided with the Grand National, in which she had a horse running. She began by saying she had two important announcements to make. The first was that Hedgehunter had won the race at Aintree; the second was that, at Windsor, she was delighted to be welcoming her son and his bride to the “winners’ enclosure. . . . They have overcome Becher’s Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles. They have come through, and I’m very proud and wish them well. My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.”

While Camilla herself has not publicly responded to the Queen's recent announcement, Prince Charles has released a statement in which he says he and Camilla and "deeply conscious of the honour represented by my mother's wishes".

The future King wrote: "As we have sought together to serve and support Her Majesty and the people of our communities, my darling wife has been my own steadfast support throughout."

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