Royal Biographer Says Camilla Parker Bowles Became Queen Consort After an ‘Arrangement’ King Charles Made With Queen Elizabeth II
King Charles III reportedly struck a ‘deal’ with Queen Elizabeth II so that Camilla Parker Bowles could be named queen consort, according to a royal biographer. Here’s what the royal family expert said about Charles’ agreement as well as the relationship he had with his parents, the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Royal biographer says an ‘arrangement’ was made to make Camilla the Queen Consort
Royal biographer Christopher Andersen spoke with the Today show about his book The King: The Life of Charles III. According to sources in his book, the announcement that Camilla would be queen consort instead of princess consort was the result of a deal Charles made with his mother beforehand.
The Today show references Christopher Andersen’s book. He says that earlier in the year Charles took advantage of “a rare opportunity” to name Camilla queen consort.
“According to Andersen, any money spent by Queen Elizabeth to help settle the sex abuse lawsuit brought against Prince Andrew would effectively come out of Charles’ future inheritance,” reports Today. “In what the book refers to as an informal quid pro quo, Charles allegedly seized the opportunity, not standing in the way of that payment and privately suggesting the queen make a public statement in support of Camilla becoming queen.” The Today show says Buckingham Palace released a statement that called the claims “nonsense.”
Charles and Camilla reportedly had to ask for forgiveness for their ‘manifold sins’
Andersen addresses Camilla’s rise to queen consort in his book. He discusses the public’s hesitance to accept her and Charles’ efforts to convince the public and the queen to accept their relationship.
“After [Princess] Diana died, Camilla became the most hated woman in the UK,” says Andersen. “It took 8 years for Charles to convince the queen to allow him to marry her. You might recall that during the wedding ceremony they had to get down on their knees and beg for forgiveness from the Archbishop of Canterbury for what they call their ‘wicked sins’ and ‘manifold sins.’”
Andersen says it took almost two decades for Charles to convince Queen Elizabeth to allow Camilla to become queen consort. “It took another 17 years for Charles after they were wed to finally convince the queen to make this shocking and stunning announcement that she did in the last year completely out of the blue,” says Andersen. “Well, it wasn’t out of the blue. It was, again, an unspoken arrangement between the two of them done behind the scenes by these men in gray that Diana used to talk about.”
King Charles’ relationship with his parents
Charles had a “lonely childhood,” reports Today. According to Andersen, Charles had a strained relationship with his late father. However, Prince Philip reportedly relied on Charles. He turned to him to deliver health updates for him when he was sick so that the burden could be taken off of Queen Elizabeth.
Although Charles had a close relationship with his mother toward the end of her life, his relationship when he was younger was reportedly “cold and aloof,” says Andersen. He also says his father “reduced him to tears” up until he was an adult. Anderson says Prince Philip would “belittle” Charles in front of others. Also, according to Andersen, Elizabeth and Philip were reportedly absent during important times in Charles’ life.
“The queen never visited Charles when he had a tonsillectomy, the flu, when he broke his ankle falling down the stairs,” says Andersen. “When he had an emergency appendectomy at the age of 13, neither Philip nor the queen bothered to leave Buckingham Palace to visit him in the hospital.”
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