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.”
As the royals get back to their normal duties after a difficult year, the Mirror has launched its very own Royal WhatsApp community where you’ll get all the latest news on the UK’s most famous family.
We’ll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in.
All you have to do to join is click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group.
We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
