The title was once an unsure outcome for Camilla due to her public perception after her affair with Charles. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Camilla will now become Queen Consort alongside King Charles III after the death of Queen Elizabeth II at age 96.
The title was once an unsure outcome for Camilla due to her public perception after her affair with Charles, with many labelling her a marriage wrecker.
Before a statement by Queen Elizabeth confirmed it, it was believed that she would take the title of Princess Consort instead.
But the queen said in February before her Platinum Jubilee which marked her 70 years on the throne, that she wished Camilla to be known as Queen Consort upon Charles coming to the throne.
“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 time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service,” said the queen.
Camilla said it is a “great honour” to be given the title.
That was the first time the queen publicly discussed her daughter-in-law with the future of the monarchy.
If she is not born into royalty herself, the wife of a king typically takes Queen Consort as their title, but it was not certain Camilla would be named such before the queen expressed her wish.
The statement was significant given Camilla was widely vilified for the affair with Charles while he was still married to Princess Diana before their split.
Diana famously said “there were three of us in this marriage” in the bombshell 1995 interview with the BBC.
Charles and Camilla married on 9 April 2005 in a civil ceremony followed by a religious blessing at St George’s Chapel.
Over the past two decades, her reputation improved in the eyes of the public to become more accepted.
Prince Harry said in 2005 that she is a “wonderful woman and she’s made our father very, very happy, which is the most important thing”.
