A Royal Biographer Thinks Camilla Parker Bowles Has This Important Role in Her Marriage to King Charles
When King Charles III officially takes the throne in May 2023, his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, will be by his side. One royal expert recently shared some insights into their marriage, including an important role that Queen Consort Camilla plays in Charles’ reign.
King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles’ marriage was not always popular
Charles and Camilla first met in the early 1970s and dated for a short period. Some people in Charles’ family objected to the relationship and did not think Camilla was a suitable wife for a future king because of her commoner status. Charles and Camilla eventually married different people. Charles famously married Princess Diana, while Camilla married military officer Andrew Parker Bowles.
In the early 1990s, Diana shocked the world when she revealed that Charles had been cheating on her with Camilla. The public sided with Diana and vilified Charles and Camilla. Eventually, Charles and Camilla got divorced from their respective partners. The pair continued their relationship for the next several years, even after Diana died in 1997.
In 2005, Charles and Camilla tied the knot. Although they had support from Queen Elizabeth II, their marriage was not popular at this time, and their individual approval ratings were low.
However, over the years, the public has grown to be more accepting of them. One royal commentator even called their relationship “one of the greatest love stories of modern times.”
Queen Consort Camilla has an important role in their marriage, royal expert says
According to royal expert Sally Bedell Smith, Camilla has been helping Charles in adjusting to his new role as a monarch.
“I think she has a very important role as sort of a leavening force. She keeps his feet on the ground,” Smith said on the podcast The Royal Report. “And I think she is probably there to remind him that his duties are very different from what they were when he was a Prince of Wales.”
Smith compared their relationship to that of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. During George VI’s reign in the 1930s and 1940s, the Queen Mother was a “source of strength” for her husband and helped him overcome some struggles to become a better king.
“I think Camilla performs much the same role,” Smith said.
Queen Consort Camilla is Charles’ ‘best friend,’ another royal expert says
Charles and Camilla have known each other for five decades. A friend of the couple, Gyles Brandreth, explained their relationship.
“She is his good companion and best friend and, now that his children have left home, she is the only person in the entire world with whom he can be completely free and open,” Brandreth said (via Express). “Camilla is his strength and stay, the ally who knows him better than anyone and, now that he’s King, the only person who can still treat him as an equal.”
Brandreth added, “I have watched them at close quarters – at Highgrove, before they were married and since, at Clarence House, at Buckingham Palace. He adores her, clearly. In small talk, he mentions ‘my darling wife’ in almost every sentence. She looks at him with a kindly eye, amused and aware of his foibles.”
