Camilla went from being abhorred lover by the British to being the queen consort of the United Kingdom.

First she was called Camilla Rosemary Shand. Later, she became known worldwide as Camilla Parker Bowles. Then, for the title of Duchess of Cornwall and, more recently, Duchess of Edinburgh. Now, at age 75, she has completed her longest and most important transformation. After three decades, she has gone from being abhorred by the British to being the queen of the United Kingdom.

Not a queen like Elizabeth II, but a queen consort, one who ascends the throne by being married to a king, not by inheriting the office of another monarch. Despite having no constitutional powers, having no participation in government affairs and not being part of the line of succession to the throne, Camilla assumes a role considered fundamental to the reign of Charles III.

As he himself signaled in his speech on the day of his mother’s death, on Thursday (8), when he announced Camilla’s new title. “In recognition of her loyal public service since our marriage 17 years ago, she becomes my queen consort. I know she will bring to the demands of her new role the unwavering devotion to the role I trust so much.”

The awarding of the title may seem automatic, but the decision was only given the green light in February of this year, when Elizabeth II, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of her reign, declared that her “sincere wish” was that Camilla be called Queen Consort, “when the time comes”. Until then, her title was expected to be limited to “Princess Consort”, similar to the way Elizabeth’s husband was called after his wife took the British throne.

“Going from public enemy number one, from the role of ‘another’ and lover, to queen consort is a turning point totally unimaginable at the time of the king’s divorce from Princess Diana,” she told the magazine. Sheet the writer Anna Pasternak, author of books on British royal women such as Diana and Wallis Simpson, the divorcee who led Edward VIII to abdicate the throne in 1936.

Like Wallis, Camilla had also been married before officially joining Charles in 2005. Between 1973 and 1995, she was married to Andrew Parker Bowles, an Army officer, with whom she had two children. The relationship with the then prince, however, had started before and continued during and after.

British animosity towards Camilla was fueled both by tabloid coverage – which published snippets of intimate conversations between the lovers – and by the split between Charles and Diana, who, in a celebrated 1995 interview, blamed Camilla for the crisis. marital “There were three people at our wedding,” the princess said on TV. Two years later, she would die in a car accident, allowing the relationship between Charles and Camilla to gradually come out of hiding.

It wasn’t just the normalization of divorce in the contemporary world and within the royal family that led to Camilla’s acceptance, unlike Wallis Simpson. The 30-year path that has now reached its peak was paved by the work of experts in image recovery, such as Mark Bolland, appointed as responsible for organizing press coverage of scenes favorable to the couple, such as a meeting between Camilla and the Queen, in 2000. If the sovereign was ready to accept Charles’s new mate, so would more Britons.

For Pasternak, in addition to professional advice, her work in about 90 charities and the passage of time, Camilla’s own personality characteristics were fundamental. “She has a constant devotion to Charles and the royal family,” says the writer. “Unlike the younger members, she doesn’t seek the spotlight and doesn’t pretend to be someone she’s not. She’s funny, smart, and even when she’s been vilified, she’s never lost her wits.”

According to a YouGov poll, 53% of Britons say they believe the queen consort will do a good job in the new role – which, like that of Prince Philip, another monarch consort, should be to support whoever occupies the throne. “In addition to knowing how to deal with him, Camilla is diplomatic and very good at defusing charged situations,” says Pasternak. “I think he’ll be a much better king having her as his queen.”