Queen Consort Camilla is taking her first steps on the international stage as the wife of the British monarch, marking the end of a long and sometimes bumpy journey from palace margins to royal limelight. At 75, she will stand beside King Charles III during his first state visit of the reign, to Germany on Wednesday.
In the turbulent 1990s, Camilla was vilified as “the other woman” in Charles’s marriage to Princess Diana. Over the years she has slowly won acceptance—if not adulation—through steadfast support for her husband and an unshowy dedication to charitable causes. Although her popularity ratings remain lower than those of most senior royals, the public now sees her as a warm, down‑to‑earth figure. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams noted that the public has taken a “benign view of Camilla” nearly three decades after Charles and Diana’s very public separation and divorce. He added that the royal couple are “very, very well suited,” sharing a similar age, sense of humour, and circle of friends. “She was everything Diana wasn’t, of course, but what has come across is that she is very supportive in a pretty quiet way,” he told AFP.
Since the death of Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last year, the causes Camilla has championed for decades have received a much larger platform. These include the arts, promoting literacy, and supporting survivors of rape and sexual assault. Former UK ambassador to France Peter Ricketts said, “She’s been very low‑profile in the UK in recent decades. Now she has a moment to come more into the spotlight.” He described Camilla as a “strong woman” and “a very warm person” who “believes passionately in her charitable convictions.” One cause closest to her heart is the Royal Osteoporosis Society, of which she has been president for more than 20 years, motivated by the loss of both her mother and grandmother to the disease. Fitzwilliams praised her “quiet dignity,” adding that her improved press coverage reflects “the genuine person” rather than a palace spin.
The royal seal of approval came last year when the late queen expressed her “sincere wish” that Camilla be known as Queen Consort after her death, ending speculation that she might hold the lesser title of Princess Consort—a title Charles had long resisted.
Camilla Rosemary Shand was born in London on 17 July 1947 and enjoyed a traditional upbringing among Britain’s upper classes. Self‑confident and attractive, she first met Prince Charles at a polo match in the early 1970s, and the two became close. Believing Charles would never propose, she married British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973. The couple had two children—food writer Tom Parker Bowles and art curator Laura Lopes—and five grandchildren. As Charles’s marriage to Diana unraveled, he and Camilla rekindled their relationship. Camilla and Andrew divorced in 1995, a year before Charles and Diana’s separation. After Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997, Camilla and Charles made their first public appearance together in 1999.
They married on 9 April 2005 in a civil ceremony at Windsor, followed by a religious blessing, drawing a cheering crowd of 20,000 on the streets. Since then Camilla has been widely accepted by the royal family, including Charles and Diana’s eldest son, Prince William. In his tell‑all biography *Spare*, published in January, their younger son Harry revealed that he and William begged their father not to marry his former mistress. In the end, however, they “pumped his hand (and) wished him well,” writing, “We recognised that he was finally going to be with the woman he loved, the woman he had always loved.”
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