Camila: from Rottweiler to Queen
- May 4, 2023
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After years of being portrayed as the most hated woman in Britain, Camilla, second wife of King Charles, will be crowned on Saturday, completing a major shift in
After years of being portrayed as the most hated woman in Britain, Camilla, second wife of King Charles, will be crowned on Saturday, completing a major shift in public recognition that few would have thought possible.
When Charles’s divorced first wife, the popular and glamorous Princess Diana, died in a car accident in Paris in 1997, Camila bears the brunt of media hostility. Some have stated that the couple will never be able to marry.
But they married eight years later, and since then she has come to be recognized, though still reluctantly by some, as a key member of the royal family, someone the new king has great confidence in and, as of Saturday, queen. nation Queen Camilla.
“She’s kind of like his soul mate,” said Robert Hardman, longtime royal correspondent and author of The Queen of Our Time, noting that she was married to Charles longer than Diana.
“They are a team. And they should be a team.”
Born Camila Shand in 1947 to a wealthy family (her father was an army commander and vintner who married an aristocrat), she moved in social circles, which brought her into contact with Carlos, whom she met on the polo field. 1970s.
The couple dated for a while and Carlos considered getting married but felt too young to take such a big step.
While continuing her naval career, Camila married a cavalry officer, Brigadier General Andrew Parker Bowles. The couple had two children, Tom and Laura. They divorced in 1995.
Charles himself married Diana, aged 20, at a wedding in 1981 that captivated not only the UK, but the whole world. After the birth of two sons, William and Harry, their relationship soured and they divorced in 1996 after he rekindled an affair with his former lover.
The depth of this relationship was revealed to a shocked public in 1993 when a transcript of a secretly recorded private conversation with very intimate details was published in the newspapers.
“I suffered because of you. This is Love. This is the power of love“Camila told Carlos in a secretly recorded telephone conversation that was released in 1993.
In a television interview the following year, Carlos admitted that he rekindled their romance, but said that it was only after their marriage had irretrievably broken down.
“There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a little crowded,” she said. Diana, nicknamed “Rottweiler” by Camila, in his own TV interview in 1995.
While Diana brought glamor to the sultry Windsor home with her shimmery dresses, many Britons couldn’t understand why Charles preferred the countryside-loving Camilla, usually depicted wearing a scarf and green cape.
“I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla,” Prince Philip, Charles’s father and husband of the late Queen Elizabeth, wrote in a letter to Diana.
reproach
Amid the public outpouring of grief and anger following Diana’s death, Camila was the object of shame. But in later years, royal aides tasked with restoring the tarnished reputation of the royal family as a whole also slowly began to integrate Camila into a more public role.
From being able to make public appearances together, to Queen Elizabeth’s wedding and Camilla’s confirmation last year as queen consort. his success is complete.
PR experts say it was the result of careful and hard work, though members said it was mostly down to Camilla’s personality and great sense of humor.
“She never assumed anything about whether they could be together. It was never any plan,” Fiona Shelburne, Marchioness Lansdowne, a close confidante of 75-year-old Camila, told The Sunday Times last month.
“She is cheerful, she was brought up with this extraordinary sense of duty, in which keep going don’t complainyou do your best and keep going and that helped her a lot.”
However, his rehabilitation came at a cost. In his memoirs, Charles’ youngest son, Prince Harry, accused his stepmother of leak stories about him to the press to improve his reputation, and that he and his brother asked their father not to marry her.
Polls also show that he has also not earned wide public recognition. A YouGov poll this week found that while 48% view her positively, 39% view her negatively, putting her on par with the least popular of the royal family.
Other polls also showed that only a minority thought she should be Queen Camilla.
“I think Diana… will shoot lightning on her coronation day, that’s for sure,” royal writer Tina Brown told Reuters. “I mean, the idea of putting a crown on the head of her deadliest rival, Camille, I think would give her severe heartburn.”
*Michael Holden and Sara Mills / Reuters.
Source: Aristegui Noticias
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
