It is 3 June 2019 – the first day of president Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK. Despite public protest, the government has laid on a welcome guaranteed to stroke the ego of a man with a weakness for pomp and ceremony: a royal reception. As his helicopter Marine One touches down on the grounds of Buckingham Palace, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall stride out to greet the president and first lady with practised geniality. But it is later, when they move to Clarence House for a photo call, that Camilla, not Trump, steals the show. In footage that will later go viral, as Prince Charles ushers the Trumps through for tea, a grinning Duchess turns and gives a quick, conspiratorial wink.
If heavy is the head that wears the crown, then the woman Charles has loved for five decades should help lighten the load. On Saturday, in a ceremony following her husband’s coronation, the former Duchess of Cornwall will be crowned Queen Camilla, the silver Queen Mary crown (its controversial Koh-i-Noor diamond removed) placed on her head by the Archbishop of Canterbury. For a woman once so vilified, it seemed unthinkable that she would ever marry Charles, let alone become Queen. It’s an extraordinary turn in a partnership that now looks set to shape the future of the British monarchy.
