REBECCA ENGLISH: How Queen Camilla went from one of the most 人気がない women in Britain to the 君主国's 主要な lady who's now keeping the 王室の show on the road during King Charles's 癌 戦う／戦い
The 変形 of Queen Camilla from understudy to centre-行う／開催する／段階 星／主役にする will, no 疑問, continue to be discussed by historians many １０年間s from now.
When she married the King almost 19 years ago, 王室の 補佐官s were at 苦痛s to 強調する／ストレス that the then Duchess of Cornwall very much saw herself as an adjunct.
Her 役割, they said, was to support her husband in the 追跡 of his ますます 激しい 王室の 義務s, while building up a small 大臣の地位 of patronages she was keen to support.
No one in her 軌道 ? let alone the lady herself ? dreamed that she would one day be 栄冠を与えるd at her husband’s 味方する (with the blessing and 是認 of Queen Elizabeth, no いっそう少なく), let alone stand in for His Majesty at events such as today’s 年次の 王室の Maundy service in Worcester.
It is the first time a consort has ever 成し遂げるd this 義務 on に代わって of a 君主 in British history.
While King Charles diligently continues to 請け負う daily 明言する／公表する 商売／仕事 behind the scenes にもかかわらず his 現在進行中の 癌?治療, Queen Camilla now finds herself, to all 意図s and 目的s, his 前線 of house.
Queen Camilla 出発／死s the 王室の Maundy service at Worcester Cathedral today
Once considered to be one of the most hated women in Britain, many have been won over by her warmth, humour, strong sense of 義務 and, 率直に, classic British ‘let’s just keep this 血まみれの show on the road-ism’.
Speaking to me on Tuesday at a Clarence House 歓迎会 to 示す three years of Camilla’s phenomenally successful 調書をとる／予約する club, The Queen’s Reading Room, 国家の treasure Dame Joanna Lumley was one of many 列ing up to sing Her Majesty’s 賞賛するs.
‘They [the 王室の Family] are all 極端に dutiful. It’s like the theatre?? if someone is ill, someone steps into their place, the understudy keeps the show going,’ she said.
‘She is the epitome of professionalism and public service.
‘Everyone thinks she should be blubbing in a corner, but this is not what these people are made of. And it’s something we should aspire to.
‘If you sit alone feeling sorry for yourself you will feel sad and 悲劇の. But if you get up and do something with a smile, then you feel better. ‘
Best-selling thriller writer, Harlan Coben, agreed. ‘She’s a keeper, as we say in America,’ he enthused.
One 王室の retainer, who has 証言，証人／目撃するd many of the family’s 新たな展開s and turns over the years, told me recently that they are genuinely glad to see Camilla’s diligence and sense of 義務 recognised at long last.
‘She’s been an 絶対の 州警察官，騎馬警官, really she has,’ they said. ‘She’s worried about her husband, everyone is. His Majesty is doing amazingly 井戸／弁護士席 but it’s 堅い to see someone you love go through an experience like this.
‘And yet she just gets up and goes out there, doing 正確に／まさに what’s asked of her with a smile on her 直面する.
Queen Camilla 提起する／ポーズをとるs with the Maundy Party during the ro yal Maundy service
‘I always think you see the best of people at the worst of times, and I really hope people realise how true that is here.’
Like many people caring for a loved one with a serious illness, Camilla is torn between 存在 by her husband’s 味方する and doing what’s 推定する／予想するd of her.
But she knows the King (she respectfully never 公然と 言及するs to him as anything but the King or His Majesty, even to those she knows 井戸／弁護士席) hates 存在 fussed over and still has a prodigious work ethic.
‘She’s spending as much of her time as she can with her husband but also believes that one of the best ways she can support him is by going out in public to 代表する him,’ one 補佐官 発言／述べるs.
Another member of their circle says: ‘She’s 絶対 out there 主要な from the 前線.’
Of course, Buckingham Palace isn’t blinkered. 上級の courtiers know 十分な 井戸／弁護士席 that there will always be a 声の?? and not やむを得ず small ? group of people who will never 受託する Camilla on the 王位 (にもかかわらず more than 2,000 genuinely excited people coming out to see her in Shrewsbury on a very wet, working Wednesday this week).
But they also believe there is no point in wasting energy trying to 変える the naysayers, and should let the Queen’s 活動／戦闘s speak louder than their outdated murmurs of 不賛成.
Indeed, at Clarence House this week you 簡単に wouldn’t have known that anything was wrong, apart from the 半端物 whispered words of 弔慰.
?
Queen Camilla arrives at the 王室の Maundy service, deputising for King Charles during his 癌 戦う／戦い
She 迎える／歓迎するd dozens of guests from the literary and 事実上の／代理 worlds, gave a short but 井戸／弁護士席-received speech about the 利益s of reading and even gamely looked 負かす／撃墜する a microscope at a brain 独房 for the 利益 of the cameras.
All, let us not forget, while His Majesty was literally above our 長，率いるs, upstairs, recuperating from his 最新の 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 of 癌 治療 and working.
Whatever you might think of her, that takes gumption.
That’s something King Charles genuinely adores about his wife, with whom he will celebrate almost two １０年間s of marriage on April 9. She’s stood by his 味方する through 厚い and thin, loves him for who he is and just gets on with things.
Friends say she’s one of life’s ‘onwards and 上向きs’ characters and still makes the King laugh more than anyone in the world. In fact, she was considered something of a ‘tonic’ at his hospital 病人の枕元 in January.
‘Honestly, she’s hilarious,’ a friend says. ‘Really lightens the atmosphere. She doesn’t bring flowers but does come with a lot of laughter, which is often what His Majesty needs.’
Today Their Majesties will 移転 to Windsor 城, a place which has grown ますます dear to their hearts.
Springtime at Windsor is one of the most glorious seasons of the year: daffodils carpet the grass and primroses peek from underneath the blooming cherry trees.
It will 供給する a 簡潔な／要約する moment of 私的な 一時的休止，執行延期, apart from thei r very public visit to St George’s Chapel on 復活祭 Sunday, which the King is 決定するd to lead (on foot and in 前線 of the cameras, I’m told).
By his 味方する, smiling as always, will be his Queen.
No longer the understudy, but very much a 主要な lady in her own 権利.
