Since Queen Elizabeth II’s passing on Sept. 8, Buckingham palace has been moving quickly to fill her shoes, the first step being to change Prince Charles’s title to King Charles III. With this change comes many other title changes in the royal family, including Charles’s wife, Camilla, who has now taken the title of queen consort. Although her title is to just provide support to her husband and the monarchy, Camilla will be known as Queen Camilla, unlike her father-in-law, who was titled Prince Philip until his death in 2021.
Camilla as Queen Consort
Due to Elizabeth’s long reign, there has not been a queen consort in the royal family since her mother, Queen Elizabeth, who later took on the title of queen mother when her daughter took the throne. While Camilla just received this title, she has already been fulfilling her duty as a supportive wife to Charles and a reasonably unproblematic royal in the eyes of the public. Camilla has helped Charles’s reputation immensely since the love triangle between them and Diana, Charles’s late ex wife. Because of Charles’s affair with Camilla during his first marriage, the public despised him, especially because they loved Diana. However, since Charles and Camilla’s marriage, they both have been able to develop better images and almost redeem themselves.
While the public has warmed up to Camilla, with her new title comes backlash from fans of the royal family and more specifically, fans of Diana. Since Charles’s ascend to the throne, social media platforms have been blowing up with content about Diana. Many of Diana’s fans have continued to post edits, TikToks and tweets about how England deserved Diana as their queen and emphasizing that Charles cheated on this global icon with Camilla.
Charles and Diana’s History
Charles and Diana were married in 1981, when Diana was only 20-years-old. The couple had two kids, William and Harry and seemed to be a picturesque family. However, their marriage was far from perfect. During the entirety of their marriage, Charles was having an affair with Camilla, who at the time was also married, causing Diana stress and furthering her eating disorder. While Diana was not completely innocent in the ending of their marriage, Charles’s affair was a major cause of their divorce in 1996. Diana died in a car accident a year later, which many speculate was set up by the royal family. During and after her marriage to Charles, Diana was known for her passion for charities, outspokenness about her struggles with her marriage and eating disorder and of course, her fashion, making the college crewneck and biker shorts combo a staple in today’s everyday street wear. Still, twenty-five years after her death, Diana’s legacy lives on.
Diana may live on as a queen in the eyes of her fans, but Camilla is the queen that England got. Will Camilla continue to be overshadowed by Diana’s memory? Or will she be able to outshine Diana in her new role? Let us know your thoughts @VALLEYmag on Twitter.
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