King Charles and Queen Camilla reportedly had a difference of opinion when he became King (Image: WireImage)
Queen Camilla delivered a blunt three-word retort to King Charles regarding her new title as she “hated the idea of it,” a royal insider said.
Camilla, who turns 79 today (Friday, July 17), was given a “brilliant but amazing” gift by Charles for her birthday last year. The monarch gifted his wife a clingfilm holder, presented by a submarine commander whose crew once used the everyday household item to keep a nuclear vessel operational.
Camilla commented: “There’s nothing more useful, brilliant how wonderful.” Queen Camilla was apparently less pleased about the royal title she received when Charles became King, however.
Charles had spent decades awaiting his accession to the throne following the late Queen’s death in 2022. However, Camilla was allegedly far from pleased about the transformation in her title, with the couple holding differing views on the matter, according to The Times’s Tom Quinn.
King Charles and Queen Camilla at the coronation (Image: Getty Images)
He writes: “One member of staff told me that at one point, Camilla hated the idea of being queen and would regularly say to Charles, ‘Can’t we get away from all this protocol? It’s all b******s.'”.
The Buckingham Palace insider reveals that His Majesty, who famously disapproves of profanity, would courteously respond: “You’re doing it [becoming queen] for me, darling.”
Despite her aristocratic upbringing, Camilla is recognised for her irreverently playful sense of humour. Royal biographer Penny Junor told Vanity Fair: “She always has a twinkle in her eye and is a terrible giggler, often reducing Charles to fits of giggles too,” reports Cambridgeshire Live.
File photo dated 05/06/24 of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in the Royal Box at the UK’s national commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, hosted by the Ministry of Defence on Southsea Common in Portsmouth, Hampshire. A double cancer diagnosis for the King and the Princess of Wales marked a difficult, challenging 2024 for the royal family. It was, in the words of the Prince of Wales, a “brutal” time. Issue date: Tuesday December 24, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story ROYAL Year . Photo credit should read: Dylan Martinez/PA Wire (Image: PA)
She harboured no grand aspirations to travel or pursue a high-powered career, the expert noted in her biography of the then Duchess: “She wanted no more from life than to be happily married to an upper-class man and live a sociable life in the country with horses, dogs, children, and someone to look after them all and do the hard graft.”
The profound connection with Charles, Junor adds, stemmed from Camilla’s unwillingness to observe formality: “She treated him like a normal person, as she had when they were together, and if ever he behaved badly, or was selfish or thoughtless, she wasn’t afraid to tell him so. She was a proper friend.”
Charles was instantly captivated by the upper-class horsewoman he encountered at a polo match, Junor writes in The Duchess: The Untold Story: “He loved the fact that she smiled with her eyes as well as her mouth, and laughed at the same silly things as he did.
“He also liked that she was so natural and easy and friendly, not in any way overawed by him, not fawning or sycophantic. In short, he was very taken with her, and after that first meeting he began ringing her up.”
By contrast, Prince Harry and Prince William required considerable time to warm to their stepmother, referring to her through various unkind nicknames. However, Kate Middleton derives great amusement from reminding her husband that Queen Camilla descends from Alice Keppel, who served as the favourite mistress of King Edward VII – whom William increasingly resembles.