So—Is Camilla Queen Now?

(Image credit: Getty)

published 6 May 2023

The journey of Camilla’s title has gone from Princess Consort—the title the public was told she would one day hold when the then Prince Charles became King upon their marriage in 2005—to Queen Consort, as requested specifically by Her late Majesty, to Queen Camilla, as boldly proclaimed in the Coronation invitation. Immediately after Her late Majesty’s death last September, Camilla was known as Queen Consort so as not to confuse her with Queen Elizabeth, who was still very much in the headlines. Now, eight months later, as of May 6, Camilla will be crowned Queen.

There is a difference, though, between the type of queen Camilla is (a queen through marriage) and a queen regnant, which Queen Elizabeth was (a queen through birth). Regardless, Camilla will henceforth be known as Queen Camilla, like the other wives of kings before her.

“Yes, she is Queen after the Coronation,” says Rachel Bowie, cohost of Royally Obsessed, a Gallery Media Group podcast. By nature of her marriage to King Charles, Camilla has technically been Queen since September 8, but “the religious ceremony makes it official that she is Queen after the Coronation,” Bowie says.

It’s a big departure from 2005, and “the royal family was so different back then,” says fellow Royally Obsessed cohost Roberta Fiorito. “The public has gotten used to seeing Camilla as one of the hardest working royals, alongside [King] Charles and [Princess] Anne and others. This change was sort of inevitable as she’s become so front facing.” Her late Majesty giving Camilla her blessing to become Queen Consort “was such a momentous occasion,” Bowie says—and now, on Saturday, the culmination of a long journey from Camilla Parker-Bowles to Queen Camilla. (Imagine telling yourself in, say, 1993 that this was going to happen. IYKYK.)

Christopher Andersen, author of The King: The Life of Charles III, tells Marie Claire exclusively that, among the many firsts, “this is the first time a divorced man has been crowned king, and the first time a divorced woman has been crowned queen—and not any divorced woman, but the mistress who broke up the king’s first marriage,” he says. “Diana still casts a huge shadow over the proceedings.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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