Curiosity and celebrity: – He has come a long way. He had gone from being seen as a true wizard, to an official and a respected person, royal book author and professor at Kristiania Carl-Erik Grimstad told NTB.

On Saturday 6 May, she will be crowned with her husband, King Charles III. From being bullied and lynched, he has won recognition and acceptance. but some experts believe she will always walk in the shadow of her past – and be compared to her husband’s first wife.

– She completely lacked Diana’s warmth, grace and sensitivity, but she had known Charles for a long time. He is, in principle, a thinker, and she is a person who can match that, at the same time they are closer to each other, at least in terms of age, said Grimstad.

Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine also pointed out that the most important thing about Camilla is the way she supports her husband, writes the AP.

“I really think she’s still a second woman, and probably will still be a second woman,” said Chernock, who believes it would be difficult to go through a coronation at Westminster Abbey without having Princess Diana envisioned.

Chernock believes it will remain a challenge going forward, even now that Camilla is queen.

Grimstad says that many probably still remember Diana, as “the princess was born”.

– But while King Charles was an old school monarch, Diana was a pop princess. With her contacts, she might be able to get more comforting reports in the media, but Camilla might be a better fit, not only for Charles, but for the role of queen, he said.

In the early 1990s there were sensational revelations that Camilla and Charles had remained close friends, and had also begun a relationship. Both of their respective marriages ended in divorce. Public hatred of the couple and Camilla was no exception came to a head when Diana died in a car accident in 1997.

The long and carefully planned process of winning over the royal family and the acceptance of the people begins. That Camilla would be titled as queen appeared at one time unthinkable. That was never the goal either, according to his son Tom Parker Bowles, who recently got the magazine out of his mouth on a podcast. News Agency. There she challenged claims from Prince Harry who claimed in the book “In the Shadow” that the stepmother had a “strategic plan” to become queen. Parker Bowles has another version:

– She married the one she loved, and this is what happened, she said.

– They have a large communications staff and are good at listening to them, with a long term perspective. Patience has been the keyword all along. Charles knew English society and the importance of the royal house. He knew it would go on like this all along, he said.

The royal acceptance paved the way for popular acceptance, aided by time, so that Britain had time to digest the change.

After Camilla’s first meeting with Prince William in June 1998, it was described as a success in the media. It wasn’t until seven months later that Camilla and Prince Charles allowed themselves to be photographed together for the first time, outside the Ritz Hotel in London, after 50 years of separation.

Grimstad believes the biggest turning point was that Camilla met the Queen Mother in the fall of 1999. This put pressure on Queen Elizabeth, who until then had refused to meet her son’s new woman. In June 2000, the Queen met Camilla for the first time. A year later, it made headlines when the prince kissed Camilla in public for the first time, a kiss on every cheek. The odds that the two will one day marry soon fall to the bookmakers.

After two years of living together, the couple married in a private civil ceremony with only 28 guests in 2005. Queen Elizabeth did not attend, but later hosted a reception for the couple, with 800 guests at Windsor Castle. Camilla was given the title Her Royal Highness Duchess of Cornwall.

In February 2022, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth announced that Duchess Camilla would be given the title of Queen Consort when Prince Charles one day becomes King. When the queen died in September, Camilla was given a title, but according to royal biographer Tor Bomann-Larsen, Camilla was always meant to be called queen.

He remembered that all the royal couples of England since King Edward VII had been queens. King Edward VII was the eldest son of Queen Victoria, who had been queen for 63 years and 7 months when he died in January 1901.

– When Queen Victoria died, the question arose about what title the new king’s wife should have. People were very used to Victoria being “Queen”, so it was debated whether she would prefer to be called “empress”. But Alexandra then said “queen or nothing”. Since then they’ve been queens, all of them. So it was on that card that Camilla would be queen, he said.

– I don’t think so. It probably goes without saying that he should have that title, although it has been discussed. They got those years from the wedding to the coronation, which is where people jumped to the idea, so it’s less controversial now.

When the invitation to the coronation came, for the first time the title was written in black and white: Queen Camilla.

Camilla Parker Bowles became world famous when it was discovered that she and then-Prince Charles had an affair while they were married. The “other woman” was treated mercilessly by the newspaper tabloids and quickly became a despised figure among British people. Arianne Chernock, professor of modern British history at Boston University, believes the past will always stick with the new queen.

Camilla Rosemary Shand was born in 1947 into a family with long ties to the British royal family. She reportedly first met Charles at a polo match in 1970, when he was 23 years old. They had a relationship, but broke up when he left to serve in the navy in 1973. In his absence, Camilla married her longtime lover, Andrew Parker-Bowles, in 1973, and Charles married Diana in 1981.

The queen’s plan or not, it’s clear the current royal couple is aiming to take baby steps, so that one day they can not only be together, but accepted as a couple. Grimstad, who had been on staff in the Norwegian royal house, believes it is clear they have chosen to use their time to help.

Over the years, Camilla has worked hard to represent the royal family, both alone and with Charles.

(© NTB)