‘Idle, and never really working’: How Camilla Parker Bowles was seen by the royal family at first

If Kate Middleton had facilities to integrate into the royal family, it was not such a simple task for all. And Camilla Parker Bowles did not have a very envious position to start on the best foot with the members of the royal family. Mistress of Charles III for many years, the passage to official companion then wife took time. And she was long seen as idle” and “never really worked. This is revealed by Philip Kyle in his book Charles III (ed. Perrin).

Camilla Parker Bowles, now Queen Consort, has always been a great support for Charles. It must be said that the king first lived in the shadow of his parents, then, in that of his first wife, Lady Diana, “for almost two decades“. And finally, he had to deal with the very great notoriety of his two sons, William and Harry, and their respective wives Kate and Meghan. If she now has a central role within the royal family, this has not nevertheless not always been the case.”Previously, she was said to be idle, having never really workedwrites the author. So when at the age of fifty-eight the Duchess of Cornwall joined the royal family, we imagined that she would not suddenly transform into a workaholic.

Anti Diana

And yet… Little by little Camilla developed her charitable activities and showed a keen interest in them, choosing to get involved in causes as varied as vulnerable children, the homeless, the elderly, literacy, the arts or horticulture, reports the book. And she thus becomes for many the anti-Diana, leaving Charles III to finally shine, being her greatest support without particularly drawing attention to herself. An opinion, that of Ben Elliot the nephew of the queen consort, that Elizabeth II was probably to share at the end, as the author recalls. Evidenced by his attitude towards Camilla, which had changed at the time of the Diamond Jubilee. “In the last years of her life, the sovereign had an excellent relationship with her daughter-in-law.the two women talking regularly on the phone“, can we read.

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