Camila, the 'villain' lover who became queen consort

The new queen consort of the British, Camila, was for years perceived as the evil character that interfered in the (not so idyllic) marriage between Carlos and his first wife, the ill-fated and idolized Diana of Wales.

After 16 years of married life and many more of clandestine romance, Camila has had to make an effort to win over the Britishdazzled by the personality, apparently more docile and refined, of Lady Di.

Achieving the acceptance of citizens to stop being seen as the villain of history has cost Camilla more than one disappointment and many image campaigns, carefully planned to transform her public perception.

(Also read: The changes that await the British monarchy after the death of Elizabeth II).

Turned today into a respectable and discreet wife, mother and grandmother of five grandchildren: Lola, Freddy, Eliza, Gus and Louis and another four by Carlos (Guillermo’s three children, Jorge, Carlota and Luis and Archie and Lilibet, from Henry and Meghan), Camila was for years, for the rest of the universe, the “third in discord” who interfered between Carlos and Diana.

title string

The second wife of Elizabeth II’s eldest son was born in London, at King’s College Hospital, on July 17, 1947 and has a not insignificant list of titles, including the Duke of Cornwall, the Duchess of Rothesay and Countess of Chester.

(Of interest: Elizabeth II: Liz Truss and Boris Johnson’s heartfelt tribute to the late queen).

By law she would also be Princess of Wales but from Buckingham Palace it was agreed that she would be called Duchess of Cornwall with the title of Royal Highness, out of respect for Diana’s memory.

Daughter of Major Bruce Shand, a British Army officer and member of the so-called gentrywho worked as a wine merchant and Rosalind Cubith, eldest daughter of the 3rd Baron Ashcombe, Camilla met Carlos, who would be the undisputed love of her life, at the age of 23 in a polo match.

Apparently, she herself told the heir to the throne that her great-great-grandfather, King Edward VII, had been a lover of her great-grandmother Alice Keppel.

(You can read: In mourning for Isabel II, the British embrace Carlos III who promises to serve them).

Ironies of life, it is believed that Carlos did not finish seeing his future consort in her, and Camilla turned the page by marrying Andrew Henry Parker Bowles.

That marriage ended the special connection between Carlos and Camilla.

She had two children with Andrew, Thomas Henry Charles “Tom” Parker Bowles, 46, the godson of Prince Charles, and Laura Rose Lopes-Parker Bowles, 43.

invited to the wedding

The brand new queen consort was also one of the illustrious guests who attended the wedding of the Prince of Wales with the aristocrat Lady Diana Frances Spencer, daughter of the Earl of Spencer.

But even that wedding, which for the nation was the icing on the cake of a fairy tale, could not end with the camouflaged romance of friendship between the eldest son of Elizabeth II and Camilla, which lasted, dotted with scandals and more than one embarrassing incident, such as the so-called “Tampongate”.

(Also: The countries that could become independent from the Crown after the death of Elizabeth II).

Nobody was surprised that Andrew Parker Bowles divorced her in 1995.

A year later, the union between Carlos and Diana and the still heir to the throne was also officially dissolved, who soon resumed his unfinished relationship with Camilla, with whom he was seen more and more at public events.

The unexpected and tragic death of Lady Di in a traffic accident in Paris in 1997 returned, somehow, to overshadow the story between Carlos and Camilla by plunging the entire country into a collective duel. A devotion to the dead princess that contrasted with the animosity that Camilla generated.

The current monarch consort had to make concessions in order to win the sympathy of public opinion and conquer the British.

(Keep reading: Balmoral: this is the residence where Queen Elizabeth II died).

Today it can be said that he has achieved it. Behind the normalization of the relationship with Carlos there was a strategic campaign to improve his image and, as the British media have commented, it helped -a lot- that princes Guillermo and Enrique, sons of Lady Di, accepted it.

Although it seemed impossible, the couple managed to seal their love, after three decades of romance, criticism and disappointments, with a ceremony officiated at the Windsor Town Hall on April 9, 2005.