Camilla is “terrified” by the prospect of being referred to as The Queen as opposed to Queen Consort, according to a royal expert.
It comes after the title Queen Camilla was used for the first time in an official capacity, on the invitations for the King’s Coronation.
Camilla had been referred to as Queen Consort since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but has now been referred to as Queen Camilla as King Charles III sends out invites to more than 2,000 guests.
According to Majesty Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Ingrid Seward, Camilla will not be relishing the prospect of taking on the mantle.
Camilla has been referred to as 'Queen Camilla'
PA / GB News
She told Dan Wootton: “I think this is all driven by Charles. He’s saying ‘this is my wife, she will be Queen. That’s what I want. She will sit beside me on the throne at the Coronation and she will be anointed Queen.’
“I think Camilla would be keen to do quite willing to do anything far lower key, but she’s got to do it now. She’s in that position.
“I should think she is terrified.”
Prince George is set to play an important role in the Coronation of his grandfather along with seven schoolboys, all named as Pages of Honour.
King Charles is preparing for his CoronationReutersThe group are either family friends or close relatives of Charles and Camilla, and they are set to “attend their majesties during the Coronation service”.
The celebrations are almost a month away, and a new double portrait of the King and Queen, wearing a Fiona Clare dress, has been released showing them smiling in Buckingham Palace’s blue drawing room in an image taken by Hugo Burnand, a favoured photographer from the royals.
A royal source said: “It made sense to refer to Her Majesty as the Queen Consort in the early months of His Majesty’s reign, to distinguish from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
“‘Queen Camilla’ is the appropriate title to set against ‘King Charles’ on the invitation. The coronation is an appropriate time to start using ‘Queen Camilla’ in an official capacity. All former Queen Consorts have been known as ‘Queen’ plus their first name.”
The invitation was printed on recycled card and elaborately decorated with foliage in a design by heraldic artist and manuscript illuminator Andrew Jamieson, a Brother of the Art Workers’ Guild which the King is an Honorary Member.
It reads: “The Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III & Queen Camilla – By Command of the King the Earl Marshall is directed to invite…to be present at the Abbey Church of Westminster on 6th day of May 2023.”
There had been speculation about what title she would hold when Charles acceded to the throne, but the late Queen put the rumours to bed in February last year when she said it was her “sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort”.
In past centuries, the wives of monarch have been known as Queen, and royal commentators had suggested the formal change might be made around the time of the coronation.
