Camilla on first public duty since Queen backed her to be crowned

PA Wire

The Duchess of Cornwall has carried out her first public engagement since the Queen paved the way for her to be Queen Camilla.

Camilla, who will now be crowned alongside the Prince of Wales when he becomes king, toured Roundhill Primary School in Bath on Tuesday.

It was the first time the 74-year-old duchess had been out and about on royal duty since the Queen’s major intervention.

Camilla chats to the schoolchildren (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Wire)

Flag-waving pupils gathered outside to give Camilla a regal welcome, with the school walls and gates adorned with festive Union flag bunting.

As she arrived, the smiling duchess stopped to chat and wave to the youngsters leaning over the low blue school gates.

Waving at one, she remarked: “Hi. What’s your name? Nice to see you.”

The Queen used her Platinum Jubilee message at the weekend to express her “sincere wish” that her daughter-in-law would one day be the Queen Consort, ending years of controversy over Camilla’s future title.

The duchess was joining three-year-olds in a Language for Life class in the Sunbeam’s early years room, and 10-year-olds from the Eco Team to plant a tree for the Queen’s Green Canopy.

She was also set to chat to youngsters making fruit smoothies, and visit a reading group and drop in on Laurel Class during maths.

The Duchess of Cornwall helps plant a tree during a visit to Roundhill Primary School in Bath (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Wire)

The wife of a king automatically becomes a queen consort and only a change in legislation would prevent her from doing so.

But when the former Mrs Parker Bowles married Charles 17 years ago, aides insisted she did not want to be Queen and “intended” to be known as Princess Consort instead.

Camilla was blamed for the breakdown of the prince’s marriage to Diana Princess of Wales.

But in the decades after the divorce, the untimely death of Diana in 1997 and Camilla’s acceptance into The Firm, the public mood towards the duchess has softened, and she has gradually taken on a more prominent position within the royal family.

Camilla is patron of St John’s Foundation, a local Bath charity which launched a plan in 2020 to equip children with the skills and level of education needed to thrive in their transition into secondary school.