Duchess Camilla’s Queen Consort Title Is “Driving a Wedge” in the Royal Family

Queen Elizabeth recently dropped the news that Prince Charles’ wife Duchess Camilla would become Queen Consort upon his eventual ascension to the throne, and apparently Prince William and Prince Harry were shocked.

Author and royal expert Christopher Andersen tells Us Weekly that the Queen’s decision to approve of Camilla’s Queen Consort title is “driving a wedge” in the royal family, and that when it comes to Wills and Harry, “I can tell you right now that the boys were completely blindsided by this.”

“It’s just whether or not they can get over this bad feeling,” Christopher said. “Then, of course, Queen [Elizabeth II]‘s health and these other considerations are there. I don’t think it helped with the queen announcing that Duchess Camilla will be Queen Consort and that’s another issue.”

According to the author, Prince Charles was “relentlessly” pushing for his wife to get the title: “Charles just wore her down on this too,” he said. “I also think that since the death of Prince Philip, Charles has stepped up his effort to make it clear to the queen that he too needs [a partner]. If he’s going to reign, he’s going to need the support, the kind of support that she got from [her husband].”

So, why is the Queen Consort title such a big deal? Because Camilla was originally going to be Princess Consort out of respect for Princess Diana. As royal expert Marlene Koenig told Town & Country, “Camilla was not popular or well liked, [although] this has changed a lot since the marriage as Camilla has taken on a lot of patronages and Charles is a lot happier. Still, [there was] a lot of tension and anger among a certain element of the population—so it was decided that Camilla would be styled as the Duchess of Cornwall, even though, of course, she is the Princess of Wales.”

Charles and Camilla actually issued a statement around the time of their marriage saying that Camilla planned to “use the title HRH the Princess Consort when the Prince of Wales accedes to the throne,” and then in March 2020, reps for the couple told The Times that “the intention is for the duchess to be known as princess consort when the prince accedes to the throne. This was announced at the time of the marriage and there has been absolutely no change at all.”

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