All hail Queen Camilla.

It’s the phrase many never thought they’d hear as Britain gets ready for the coronation of King Charles and his beloved wife on Saturday.

Tina Brown, the former Vanity Fair editor, told Page Six: “Camilla’s is the greatest image rehab in history. She deserves a crown just for toughing it out.”

The crowning of Queen Camilla will be the culmination of a quarter of a century of intensive work by the king, their friends and their counselors.

Its most dramatic moment came last year, when there was a “sustained campaign” to “strong arm” Queen Elizabeth to endorse Camilla as queen consort shortly before her death, multiple sources claimed.

On February 5, 2022 — the eve of her Platinum Jubilee — the late Queen wrote in a touching letter: “And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes king, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as queen consort as she continues her own loyal service.”
The then Prince of Wales followed with an official response, writing that both he and Camilla were “deeply conscious of the honour represented by my mother’s wish.”

But the entire affair left a sour taste in some courtiers’ mouths, with the announcement overshadowing a day of supreme emotion for Charles’ mother. February 6 was not just the 70th anniversary of her becoming queen, it was the anniversary of her beloved father, King George V’s, death.

Being willing to take the spotlight from Queen Elizabeth, the source said, was a sign to some of the aggression of Charles’ campaign to make Camilla queen.

“There was a sustained behind-the-scenes campaigning to get Queen Elizabeth to publicly endorse the title ‘Queen Consort’; the news hijacked the jubilee,” one palace source told Page Six. “Why not let her have her day?”

The title queen consort was itself a dramatic change from what had been said when Charles and Camilla married in April 2005: that the new Duchess of Cornwall planned to “use the title HRH the Princess Consort when the Prince of Wales accedes to the throne.”

Camilla, in simple terms, would never be queen. And then in March 2020, reps for the couple reiterated this to The Times of London, saying, “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.”