In a rare interview with fashion last July, on the occasion of her 75th birthday, Camilla recalled the times she was one of the most reviled women by the British media: “It’s not easy. Nobody wants to be watched all the time and, you know, criticized … But in the end I think I came out on top. We have to get on with our lives”. Today, the woman who was despised in the 1990s as the “royal mistress”, seen as the culprit for the end of the “fairytale wedding” between Carlos and Diana, will sit next to the man she always loved and be crowned queen.
The road to this moment has been through Camilla’s long rehabilitation. While her 38% popularity doesn’t place her at the top of the royal family today, the Queen (Buckingham Palace dropped the “consort” from her title) is now seen with benevolence. There is no doubt that she sees her role as supporting Carlos, and that they are kindred spirits; same age, same sense of humour, same friends… royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams. He added: “Camilla’s rehabilitation is very been successful. It has led to her marriage being very happy.”
Carlos and Camilla met in the early 1970s at a polo match in which the then Camilla Shand jokingly said to a young Prince of Wales “my great-grandmother was your great-great-grandfather’s lover”. But when the two got close, Camilla didn’t believe Carlos would ever propose to her and eventually married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973. The couple have two children, Tom and Laura, and five grandchildren.
The friendship with Carlos continued, but it wasn’t until the problems in Carlos’ marriage to Princess Diana became impossible to ignore that they resumed the relationship. And this quickly made the tabloid pages. Camilla became “the most hated woman in the UK”. The divorce from Andrew was made official in 1995, a year before that of Carlos and Diana, who assured in his famous interview with the BBC’s Martin Bashir that there were “three people in our marriage”. But as the heir to the throne prepared to normalize relations with the woman he always loved, Diana’s death in a car accident in Paris in 1997 reignited controversy.
“It was horrible. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” Camilla said in another interview, quoted by The protector. And it wasn’t until 1999 that Carlos and Camilla made their first public appearance together.
hereditary stoicism
Camilla Rosemary Shand was born in London on July 17, 1947 and grew up in a wealthy, upper-class family. And it was with her parents—Major Bruce Shand, a decorated World War II veteran who served two years as a German prisoner of war, and Rosemary Shand, who spent part of her life battling osteoporosis—that Camilla learned to maintain stoicism. in the face of adversity. A character trait that would prove essential if he became the target of the tabloids.
Especially after the Daily mirrorin 1993, revealed the contents of an intimate telephone conversation between the then Mrs Parker Bowles and Carlos in which the Prince of Wales said he wanted to be one of his tampons.
With the turn of the millennium, Carlos made it clear to his mother and the rest of the family that his relationship with Camilla was “non-negotiable” and that she would always play a “central” role in his life. Thus began a long road to change public perception.
The first meeting with Isabel II, who feared that her son’s marriage to his former lover would cause irreparable damage to the monarchy, will have taken place in 2000, also in the presence of Charles’ sons, William and Harry. But the wedding would not take place until 2005, with the Queen on that day saying “My son is home and safe with the woman he loves”. Elizabeth II’s final endorsement would come in 2022, in her Platinum Jubilee speech, when she expressed her “sincere wish” to see Camilla as queen consort — and not princess consort, as was once thought.
In recent years, Camilla has increasingly taken on her role as an active member of the royal family, giving more visibility to causes she has long supported, such as the arts, literacy, but also the fight against osteoporosis or support for female rape survivors. and sexual violence.
The relationship with Carlos, this one, has only grown stronger over the years. Those who know them well emphasize Camilla’s calming influence on her husband. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say she’s changed him, but he’s more relaxed and he feels supported,” actress Penelope Keith, an old friend of Carlos and Camilla, told the BBC.
At 75 years old, Camilla is now preparing to wear the crown that belonged to Queen Mary, wife of George V and great-grandmother of Carlos. A role he never dreamed of. “Never in her life had she imagined to be queen!” The Sunday times her friend, the Marchioness of Landsdowne, insisted there was never “any plan” for doing this. The one who seems unconvinced of this is Harry. In his recent autobiography, Carlos’ youngest son – who left the family and moved to the US with his wife Meghan – accused his stepmother of being “dangerous”.
Camilla’s defense came from the most unsuspecting person: her ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, assured that there was “no play” and that the ex-wife was simply “marrying the person she loved.”
Source: DN
