King Charles allegedly rallied for years to ensure that his beloved wife Camilla would be recognized as queen.
The claim was made by Christopher Anderson, author of “The King: The Life of Charles III,” for which he spoke to numerous insiders about Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son. According to the U.K.’s DailyMail, “well-placed sources” alleged that Buckingham Palace is set to officially describe Camilla as “queen,” rather than “queen consort.”
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Sources told the U.K.’s DailyMail that Buckingham Palace will reportedly drop “consort” from Camilla’s title after she’s crowned in May. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“For the past 18 years, I’ve been telling people that Camilla would be queen… as Charles pledged when he convinced Queen Elizabeth to allow him to marry his longtime mistress in 2005, and not ‘queen consort,’ which is a title that has never really existed,” Andersen claimed to Fox News Digital. “The wife of the king is of course his consort, but she is also, simply, the queen.”
“I’ve never ceased to be amazed at how gullible both the British press and public were on this issue,” Andersen insisted. “Charles never intended to keep his promise to the British people, who have always kept a special place in their hearts for the woman who they felt was robbed of the title – Princess Diana.”
In February 2022, several months before her death, the late queen marked the 70th anniversary of her rule with support for Camilla. At the time, the monarch expressed her “sincere wish” that Charles’ wife should be known as “Queen Consort” when her son succeeds her.
In February 2022, Queen Elizabeth II expressed a “sincere wish” that Camilla, would be known as “queen consort” when the former Prince Charles succeeds her. (Photo by Tim Graham Picture Library/Getty Images)
The queen passed away in September of that year at age 96.
It took years for many in Britain to forgive Charles, whose admitted infidelity and long-time links to Camilla torpedoed his marriage to Diana, known as “the People’s Princess.” The glamorous young mother of Princes William and Harry died in a Paris car crash in 1997, five years after her messy, public split from Charles. She was 36.
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When Camilla, 75, married Charles in 2005, it was widely assumed she would not be known as queen when Charles, 74, acceded to the throne. However, Elizabeth’s words set the record straight on her daughter-in-law, who was initially shunned by Diana’s supporters.
The Prince of Wales and his new bride Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, with their families (L-R back row) Prince Harry, Prince William, Tom and Laura Parker Bowles (L-R front row) Duke of Edinburgh, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Camilla’s father Major Bruce Shand, in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle after their wedding ceremony, April 9, 2005, in Windsor, England. (Photo by Hugo Burnand/Pool/Getty Images)
Despite the possible outcry, Charles has long made it clear that he wanted Camilla to be known as queen.
“I revealed in my book that Charles hammered away relentlessly at the late queen for 17 years, pleading with her to endorse Camilla as queen and not merely consort,” Andersen claimed. “Toward the end of her life the queen did just that, quite reluctantly I’m told, and it was a shock to Diana’s sons.”
“William and Harry… both actually believed the king would honor his original pledge out of respect for their late mother,” Andersen alleged. “After all, it was Charles’ affair with Camilla that caused Diana so much heartache, ended their parents’ marriage, and set into motion the chain of events that eventually led to Diana’s death. In the end, Charles and Camilla have gotten everything they always wanted.”
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Lady Diana Spencer, left, and Camilla Parker-Bowles at Ludlow Races where Prince Charles is competing in 1980. Diana later told Panorama in 1995, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”. (Photo by Express Newspapers/Archive Photos)
“Sadly, it appears that nobody else has,” Andersen added.
In January of this year, Harry accused his stepmother of leaking private conversations to the media to burnish her own reputation. The accusation was published in his explosive memoir, “Spare.” In interviews to promote the book, the Duke of Sussex accused members of the royal family of getting “into bed with the devil” to gain favorable tabloid coverage, singling out Camilla’s efforts to rehabilitate her image with the British people after her longtime affair with his father.
“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,” the 38-year-old told CBS. “There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street.”
In January, Prince Harry sat down with Anderson Cooper for a “60 Minutes” interview where he spoke candidly about his stepmother. (Screenshot/Twitter)
In reflecting on his father’s marriage to Camilla, Harry admitted, “I had complex feelings about gaining a stepparent who, I believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.”
Still, he wanted his father to be happy.
“In a funny way, I even wanted Camilla to be happy,” Harry noted. “Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?”
In the book, Harry wrote that he and William both “begged” their father not to marry Camilla, worried she would become a “wicked stepmother.”
Andersen said it will be controversial if the palace chooses to move forward on dropping “consort” from Camilla’s title. The king and his wife will be crowned at Westminster Abbey in May. Currently, she is known as “Her Majesty The Queen Consort,” the royal family’s website pointed out.
Camilla is listed as “Her Majesty The Queen Consort” on the royal family’s website. (Photo by Victoria Jones – Pool/Getty Images)
“I wonder how the late queen would feel,” said Andersen. “It took her 17 years to finally bow to Charles’ demands and publicly declare that she wished her subjects to accept Camilla as their queen consort. The word ‘consort’ was there for a reason. The wives of previous monarchs were known simply as queen, and if Charles’ first marriage had not been destroyed by his affair with Camilla, on May 6 we would be seeing the crowning of Queen Diana. Charles’ mother wanted to make it clear that Camilla was a special case, and not quite the equal of those that have gone before her in terms of royal protocol.”
“I would imagine she’s turning over in the royal vault, knowing that even after she made this major concession it apparently wasn’t enough,” Andersen continued. “The palace is tone-deaf on the subject of Camilla. The king’s advisers fail to appreciate the fact that, despite all their Herculean efforts to rebrand Camilla, at least half the country is wary about her being crowned alongside Charles. The potential for a major backlash is there.”
The public mood over Camilla has softened over the years.
Princess Diana passed away from injuries she sustained in a 1997 car crash. Over the years, the public’s mood over Camilla has softened. (Photo by Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
Since marrying into the British royal family, Camilla has taken on roles at more than 100 charities, focusing on a wide range of issues including promoting literacy, supporting victims of domestic violence and helping the elderly.
With a down-to-Earth style and sense of humor, she eventually won over many Britons. Her warmth softened Charles’ stuffy image and made him appear more relaxed, if not happier, as he visited houses of worship, unveiled plaques and waited for his chance to reign.
Following the queen’s announcement, Charles thanked his mother for her support.
The former Prince Charles, center, thanked his mother Queen Elizabeth II, left, for her support. (Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
“We are deeply conscious of the honour represented by my mother’s wish,” he said. “As we have sought together to serve and support Her Majesty and the people of our communities, my darling wife has been my own steadfast support throughout.’’
The queen’s comments brought back memories of one of the lowest moments of her reign. The royal family was criticized for its initial silence in the aftermath of Diana’s death, with one newspaper proclaiming “Your People Are Suffering. Speak to Us Ma’am.”
In backing Charles and Camilla, Elizabeth remembered the support she received from her husband, Prince Philip, who died in 2021 at age 99 after decades at her side, as well as the role her mother played as the wife of a king.
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King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort will be crowned on May 6. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
“I am fortunate to have had the steadfast and loving support of my family,” wrote the queen. “I was blessed that, in Prince Philip, I had a partner willing to carry out the role of consort and unselfishly make the sacrifices that go with it. It is a role I saw my own mother perform during my father’s reign.”
“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,” she added.
A source told the Mail it made sense for Camilla to be known as “queen.”
Princess Diana and Prince Charles on their wedding day, circa 1981. For years, many blamed Camilla for the breakdown of the couple’s marriage. Diana and Charles’ divorce was finalized in 1996, a year before her death. ( Photo by Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
“There’s a view in the palace that ‘queen consort’ is cumbersome, and it might be simpler for Camilla to be known just as the queen when the time is right,” the source alleged. “… Prince Philip was prince consort officially, but he wasn’t known as prince consort. The queen would still be ‘queen consort,’ so the palace, of course, wouldn’t stop anyone calling ‘Her Majesty’ that if they so chose.”
The report noted that some U.K. outlets, including The Times and The Telegraph, have dropped “consort” when writing about Camilla.
“There’s a feeling that the time will come when it’s simpler all around to refer to Camilla simply as our queen,” a source told the outlet. “Until then she will be referred to as ‘queen consort.’”
Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
