When King Charles married wife Camilla exactly 20 years ago today, it was announced she would eventually be known as Princess Consort – but one word in the statement released that day hinted that would not always be the case
They may be celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary, but King Charles and Queen Camilla will be putting duty first. The pair are in the middle of a four-day state visit to Italy aimed at strengthening ties between the UK and its European neighbour.
As Charles has been carrying out his duties of state as monarch overseas, Camilla has been by his side throughout, with the pair receiving a spectacular ceremonial welcome in Rome yesterday. But at one point, the idea of Camilla, 77, being there as Queen and leading the Royal Family was a huge long shot. In fact, on their wedding day exactly 20 years ago today, it was announced she would be given an unprecedented title when Charles became King – and it wasn’t Queen.
At the time of their marriage in 2005, an official statement said it was “intended” that Camilla would have been known as HRH The Princess Consort rather than Queen. That would have made Camilla the first British royal to ever use the title of Princess Consort. It came as public opinion of her was previously not favourable due to her relationship with Charles.
“Mrs Parker Bowles will use the title HRH the Duchess of Cornwall after marriage,” the statement read. “It is intended that Mrs Parker Bowles should use the title the Princess Consort when the prince accedes to the throne.
But 20 years on that has all changed, with her being referred to as Queen Camilla – but it seems the palace statement on the wedding day contained one key word that hinted she would be Queen – ‘intended’. Royal expert and author Robert Jobson previously claimed that the word ‘intended’ was used in the original wording of the statement to give the public time to warm to her.
In his book Charles at 70: Thoughts, Hopes And Dreams, he writes: “The critical word in this statement, of course, was ‘intended’. What Clarence House was doing was buying time – time for a hostile public to warm to Camilla. Prince Charles, however, has always intended her to become his queen consort. According to an inside source, he’d already decided that before their wedding.”
The King and Queen will be spending their 20th wedding anniversary this evening as guests of honour at a state banquet held in Rome. Charles and Camilla are expected to be joined by leading figures from Italian life at the black tie dinner, held as part of the couple’s state visit.
Charles first met fun, confident Camilla on Windsor Great Park polo field in 1970 when he had just left the University of Cambridge, a year before he joined the Royal Navy. No marriage proposal came despite the closeness between the pair and when the relationship cooled after Charles dedicated himself to his Navy career, Camilla wed cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 and Charles later married Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981.
After Charles and Camilla both divorced – and Diana died in 1997 – Camilla’s eventual emergence as Charles’s long-term partner was part of a carefully planned PR campaign masterminded by the heir to the throne’s spin doctor Mark Bolland.
Their first public appearance together was outside the Ritz hotel in London in 1999, dubbed Operation Ritz, where the mass of waiting photographers had been tipped off.
At their wedding reception, held the same day as the Grand National, Queen Elizabeth II said about their romance: “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.”
