Queen Elizabeth II has put an end to decades of speculation by giving Prince Charles’s wife what some see as her “seal of approval”: the title of queen consort.
The title of “queen” looms large in the British public consciousness, especially during the tenure of the nation’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.
So when the 95-year-old queen announced that her daughter-in-law Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall and wife of Prince Charles, would become queen consort when Charles takes the throne, she ended years of speculation about Camilla’s future status. .
The announcement, which came in a letter Saturday to mark 70 years since Elizabeth’s accession, could be seen as an official stamp of approval on their marriage, as well as an effort to pave the way for Prince Charles’s own trip to the throne, say historians and royal experts.
“In the royal family, and in the UK, titles matter in a way that is sometimes difficult for Americans to parse,” said Arianne Chernock, an associate professor of history at Boston University.
In many ways, the move can be seen as an effort to ensure that at least one challenge is removed from Prince Charles’ path as the inevitable transition to his role as monarch looms.
“It seems increasingly clear to me that the more she can claim to be working in his mother’s tradition, carrying out her vision, the better for him,” Chernock said.
The title of queen consort would raise Camila’s status, consolidating her role as Carlos’s royal partner. It also means that she will have a bigger role in her coronation and will be crowned.
Camila’s royal role has already expanded since she and Prince Charles married in 2005, but royal watchers weren’t sure what it would look like when Prince Charles became king. It was the second marriage for both, and Camila was dragged by the British tabloid press for years after learning of her romantic relationship with Carlos during his marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales.
Diana died in a car accident in 1997, five years after her separation from Carlos and one year after their divorce. Camila was previously married to Andrew Parker Bowles, but the couple divorced in 1995. In the midst of all the drama of the relationship, revealing interviews emerged and the publication of a recording of a wiretapped call that offered sordid details about the private life of Carlos and Camila.
Camila is not the first royal wife to face public skepticism and controversy over her title. Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, had to fight for years to be named consort due to mistrust of his German origin.
“In Camila’s case, there is a similar kind of mistrust and skepticism,” Chernock said. “In her case, she doesn’t derive from being a foreigner, obviously. It just stems from her relationship origin story.”
But in the nearly 17 years since Camila and Carlos got married, they have worked to cultivate a public image of service, stability and discretion.
“It has all been deeply uncomfortable — we know more than we want to know about this couple — and so this is part of a very careful and very long-term rehabilitation strategy,” Chernock said.
In addition to helping to repair the public image of the couple, the announcement about a queen consort also signals the full acceptance of a spouse who has been divorced. All but one of Queen Elizabeth’s children are divorced, so it’s something the family has gotten used to.
“It could be an opportunity to show a more forgiving, more flexible and more modern idea of what the monarchy represents,” Chernock.
Edward Owens, historian and author of The Family Firm: Monarchy, Mass Media and the British Public, 1932-53 , said the queen’s decision to offer Camilla the title of queen consort suggests that the crown moves with the times when deals with divorced people.
As is well known, the queen did not attend the wedding of Carlos and Camila, since she heads the Church of England, which then did not allow divorcees to remarry (now it does).
The queen’s intervention, Owens said, means Camila has “the royal seal of approval.”
“Here is the queen dispelling all doubt by making it very public that it is her personal wish that Camila take this title,” said Owens. “Opposing the idea of Camilla being named queen now is opposing the queen’s personal desire, thus capitalizing on public goodwill towards Elizabeth II.”
Over the years, Camila’s efforts to discreetly serve the public have helped bolster her and Carlos’s image. Along with the queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, she is seen as one of the most active senior members of the royal family, carrying out the essential work that underpins the monarchy, such as charity events and public gatherings.
Public perception of Camilla has changed markedly during her marriage to Prince Charles, historian Simon Heffer wrote in The Telegraph. “Her success of her is not because she has changed as a person so that people admire her more,” she wrote, “it is because people have changed their perception of her and realized that she was always a very personable person. good”.