How Camilla came in from the cold

Queen Camilla. Once a far-fetched prospect, now a reality – when the day comes – thanks to this extraordinary intervention by the Queen.

No one sensible would have put money on such an outcome in November 1995 after Diana, Princess of Wales declared in her infamous Panorama interview that ‘there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded’. Such was the antipathy towards Camilla and the near adoration for Diana, that a totally false story of someone throwing bread rolls at the future duchess in a supermarket car park took hold in the public consciousness.

Mindful of this antipathy – and the polls that said people wouldn’t stomach Camilla being crowned – the Queen has taken her time. Quite a bit of time. In 1998, a year after Diana’s death, she didn’t attend Prince Charles’ 50^th birthday party because the then Camilla Parker-Bowles was a guest.