How Camilla finally came into fashion
As the Duchess of Cornwall turns 75, we chart her incredible turnaround
Job well done. Camilla has gone from the most vilified woman in Britain to one of its favourites and now, as she celebrates her 75th birthday today, she can add feminist icon to her CV. Kerry wrote about how the Duchess of Cornwall turned public opinion, for the Telegraph this week. Here’s an extract:
Feminist writer Julie Bindel says Camilla, “has always refused to be a victim; nor is there anything of the subservient woman about her.” Instead, she has trodden her own path and gone, through sheer resilience, from famous mistress to mistress of her royal future. “Feminism isn’t something you expect to find in a royal but, to me, she has those qualities – sincerity, authenticity and independence – which real feminism is rooted in,” Julie writes in The Telegraph this week.
Proof Camilla has finally come into fashion is the fact she made it into Vogue, appearing in the mag’s July issue. “Sorry you’ve got to photograph an old bat this morning,” the magazine reported she told photographer Jamie Hawkesworth, adding she refused to wear purple to match the wisteria, calling it “menopausal mauve.”
She followed that up with the cover of Country Life magazine and an accompanying ITV documentary, which aired this week, in which she reveals the secret of her success. Posing for a series of photographs by daughter-in-law Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Camilla said she’s undaunted by her royal role. “There’s always exciting new prospects, there is always something exciting round the next corner you never know what’s going to happen next.” Asked if she ever gets nervous, she simply said, “I take a deep breath and get on with it.”
It’s obviously a strategy which has served her well, for the no-nonsense Camilla repeatedly tops the list of favourite royals palace insiders like to deal with. She’s known to be down-to-earth, frank, funny and charming. “She makes everyone laugh. She is also a good person to have around in a crisis,” The Times’ Valentine Low writes, “She even has a favourite expression that she wheels out in moments of drama: ‘Wait and see how the mop flops.’”
She’s passionate about championing real causes where she can make a difference, tackling issues that are not necessarily media-friendly, such as her work with rape survivors and victims of domestic violence. She is patron of over 90 charities, including many literacy initiatives, such as her own Reading Room and thus, ironically has worked harder in her 70s – when other people would be retired – than in her former life as an upper-class country wife who didn’t work.
This has come as a surprise to her friends. Ahead of her wedding to Charles in 2005, the Prince of Wales’ former deputy private secretary, Mark Bolland, dubbed Camilla the ‘laziest woman to have been born in England in the 20th century’. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Even the Queen has had to revise her opinion – going from calling her “that wicked woman”, to showing the world how much she respects Camilla, by making a speech on her Platinum Jubilee anniversary in February in which she stated, “It is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service.”
On Tuesday, she attended a birthday lunch in London hosted by Gyles Brandreth and The Oldie magazine, with celebrity guests including Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Nigel Havers, Joanna Lumley and Twiggy. In her speech, said she was going to follow Prince Philip’s motto of just “getting on with it.”
“The Duke of Edinburgh’s philosophy was clear: ‘Look up and look out, say less, do more – and get on with the job’,” she said, adding, “and that is just what I intend to do.’
And finally, if anything can upstage a future Queen Consort on her 75th birthday, it’s her Jack Russell terriers, Bluebell and Beth posing as ‘Girls in Pearls’ in Country Life magazine guest-edited by the duchess.
Paula Lester, the magazine’s managing and features editor, said: “The Duchess actually used her own pearl necklaces and put them on her dogs.” Other Royal Family members to have starred in this famous franchise are the Queen, the Princess Royal, and Queens Mary, Alexandra and Victoria.
The Queen awards the NHS the George Cross
The Queen had a very special award ceremony on Tuesday, when she gave the National Health Service the George Cross.
“It is with great pleasure on behalf of a grateful nation, that I award the George Cross to the National Health Services of the United Kingdom,” she said, at the ceremony in Windsor Castle. CEOs and frontline workers from all four nations were present to receive the award, for their effort during the pandemic.
The George Cross was first awarded by George VI in 1940, during the Blitz, to recognize “acts of the greatest heroism or the most courage in circumstances of extreme danger.” As well as individuals, it has been given to the Island of Malta and the Royal Ulster Constabulary, previously.
Harry and Meghan heading to the UN
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are taking another bite at the Big Apple this week, with a return trip to New York.
This Monday, Harry will be making a speech at the UN General Assembly to celebrate Nelson Mandela Day, a UN spokesperson confirmed. It’s believed he will talk about climate change. In September 2021, Harry and Meghan visited the UN headquarters and attended the Global Citizen Live concert in Central Park. Meghan’s no stranger to speaking at the UN. In 2015, she gave a rousing speech on gender equality on International Women's Day.
Hopefully this trip will deflect from a book out this Thursday called, Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War between the Windsors by journalist Tom Bower. The author claims he used “expert sourcing and interviews from insiders who have never spoken before” to “unpick the tangled web surrounding the Sussexes and their relationship with the Royal Family”.
Charles gets ready to party at the Notting Hill Carnival
With news Prince Andrew’s disastrous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview is set to be made into a film called Scoop (possibly starring Hugh Grant), it’s a relief to see Charles and Camilla full of smiles on royal business this week.
The couple were at Notting Hill Carnival’s HQ, The Tabernacle, on Wednesday where they were treated to a taster of the famous west London event, meeting stilt walkers, dancers and drummers. Charles gave a steel pan drum solo his best shot, later joking he “was not much cop”. With Britain boiling under a heatwave, Camilla (who revealed she had attended the carnival many years ago) told the steel pan musicians: “If it had been cooler, we could have had a jolly good dance.”
Charles is a long-time fan of the carnival, in 1987 he wrote how it brought “a very real sense of community, and plays an important role in cementing cultural harmony in our society”. Established in 1966 and back on Notting Hill’s streets this August, after being performed virtually for the last two years, the carnival - second-largest street party in the world behind Rio - is on August 27 - 29.
Book your ticket to Buckingham Palace
It’s back! Buckingham Palace finally re-opens to the public this week, for the first time since 2019. The State Rooms open on Friday July 22 until October 2 and this year there is a special Jubilee exhibition. Platinum Jubilee: The Queen’s Accession, includes some of the famous Dorothy Wilding portraits of the Queen and The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland diamond tiara. This tiara was a wedding gift to Queen Mary, on her marriage to King George V in 1893, then given to the Queen, on her marriage to Prince Philip in 1947. For tickets, click here.
Happy Birthday Prince George
This Friday George will be blowing out nine candles on his cake (lovingly baked by Mum). We wonder what he’ll wish for? Possibly not another Wimbledon suit.