The Brothers Grimm must be spinning in their graves. The noble art of the fairy tale has been destroyed this week– all the pieces were in place (prince, princess, castles etc), but the wrong person has ended up living happily ever after.
The wicked stepmother, no less.
Camilla becoming Queen is outrageous. The equivalent of Angelina Jolie sitting triumphantly on the throne after what she did to Poor Jen. There are some people it’s impossible to even consider ever forgiving, and Camilla is pretty much their poster-woman.
Of course she’s not the only guilty party, Tampax-wannabe Charles is as much to blame as she is, if not more, but we have no say in him being King, because he earned it thanks to all the dedication and hard work he put into being born. Camilla, however, is a different story.
Because once upon a time, it would have been Diana. And it should have been Diana.
So this can only be seen as a betrayal, a travesty, literally the opposite of What She Would Have Wanted for the third person in her marriage.
Admittedly I’m the proud owner of a Princess Diana souvenir teapot – a gift from friends who know me well – but I don’t think it’s only her fans who feel this way. The idea of Camilla being Queen goes completely against our British sense of fair play, of what’s right.
Diana’s enduring power means that many of us feel loyal to her – despite probably never having met her – two-and-a-half decades after her death.
Her effect lives on. She created the Revenge Dress, was gaslit before the term existed and colours every single story about the Royals.
Her sons’ rift is doubly sad as it would so obviously devastate her.
At every event, we wonder what she would have worn. The birth of any of her grandchildren is always bittersweet. And Camilla, no matter what she’s doing, how happy she clearly makes Charles now, will forever be the Other Woman, who caused excruciating pain. It’s bad enough that she won – that she and Charles get to be together, merrily living their best lives without a care in the world. Doing it with His’n’Her crowns on as well is just too much.
Historically, the King’s wife is given the title “Queen Consort” but someone read the room country at Charles and Camilla’s wedding and decided she’d be “Princess Consort” when he took over the family business. Still galling, but just about bearable if you grit your teeth hard enough.
Now the Queen’s changed her mind, and thanks to the slogan she and Kate Moss live by – never complain, never explain – we’ll never really know why. She’s probably just trying to please her son. Maybe it’s a peace offering to apologise for making him wait so long for his promotion.
But it’s not right, and actually, has already made things worse. Camilla quietly in the background was something most of us were resigned to living with. Thrusting her centre-stage like this only stirs everything up again, reminds us of what we hadn’t forgotten anyway, fires the flames of fury and indignation back up. This is unjust. This is treachery. Camilla is not, and will never be, my Queen.
