Feb 8, 2011

Camilla Hints She Could Become Queen

Camilla Hints She Could Become Queen



Andra Varin Editor
Will there be a Queen Camilla before there's a Queen Catherine? Could be!

For the first time, Prince Charles' wife has suggested publicly that she might become queen when he comes to the throne.

The Duchess of Cornwall let the hint slip Monday during a visit to a children's center, The Telegraph and the Daily Mail reported.

A gust of wind catches The Duchess of Cornwall's umbrella as she arrives in Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire.
Tim Ireland, PA
A gust of wind catches the Duchess of Cornwall's umbrella as she arrives in Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire. Asked by a child Monday if she would one day become queen, Camilla responded, "You never know."
An 8-year-old girl asked the visiting royal, "Are you going to be queen one day?"

"You never know," Camilla replied.

The official line has always been that when Charles becomes king, Camilla will be known as "princess consort" –- even though the wife of every other king since the Norman invasion in 1066 has been queen.

Since her 2005 marriage to Charles, the former Mrs. Parker Bowles has been known as the Duchess of Cornwall rather than Princess of Wales -– the title so strongly associated with her late rival, Princess Diana.

Diana publicly blamed Camilla for the troubles in her own marriage. "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit overcrowded," she famously said in a television interview.

Downplaying Camilla's royal role was not only a sop to Diana admirers, but also a concession to the Church of England, which does not approve of divorce. Charles, the future head of the church, married Camilla in a civil ceremony because her first husband is still living.

Charles himself gave a pretty strong sign in November that he expects his wife to become Queen Camilla, not Princess Consort Camilla. Asked during an NBC interview whether the duchess would ever be queen, the prince replied: "That's well ... we'll see, won't we? That could be."
Of course, there's no guarantee that Charles himself will ever sit on the throne. He is 62 years old and may not outlive his mother. At 84, Queen Elizabeth II, appears to enjoy robust health, and her mother lived to be 101.

Although Charles has never indicated he would consider giving up his right to the throne, Britons have said in several polls that they would prefer the crown skipped him and went to his elder son, Prince William -- despite William's protests that he has no desire to bypass his dad.

William, 28, is set to marry Kate Middleton, 29, on April 29. And if things go as expected, they will one day reign as King William V and Queen Catherine.

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