Question about Queen Camilla

[Misskitty]

OK I need a British person who is good with titles to explain this to me.

I was on a Facebook page talking about royalty. I won't bore you with too many details but someone said that they thought Queen Camilla wasn't supposed to be Queen. I said Charles and Queen Elizabeth originally promised that to make the public more comfortable with Camilla but ultimately her title was always going to be Queen Consort because she was married to the King. Right?

WELL - enraged British people told me I was wrong. That Buckingham Palace and Clarence House made that statement on their own without Charles or the Queens knowledge.

I said I don't think so. They act as the PR Department for the royal family. Unless one of them was incapacitated all statements are made on their behalf.


But I really wanted to ask about Camilla's title. One person huffed she was given an HRH. Which-of course. I never argued that.

But is she a Queen or a Queen Consort? A Queen has more powers because they're well, THE Queen.

Mods please let me get a few answers before you delete. I like Camilla-its not meant to be an insult

 

[Curryong]

The answers are here below. Just scroll down. Camilla’s titles she has used and not used were complicated because of Diana being so loved by the UK population.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/06/uk/camilla-queen-explainer-gbr-intl-scli/index.html

 

[Misskitty]

The answers are here below. Just scroll down. Camilla’s titles she has used and not used were complicated because of Diana being so loved by the UK population.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/06/uk/camilla-queen-explainer-gbr-intl-scli/index.html

Thank you! So she's a co regent. She and Charles have equal power.

What happens if Charles becomes incapacitated? Does she take power?

 

[Curryong]

She isn’t co-regent. It doesn’t say that in the article. King Charles is the sole monarch. Camilla just isn’t using the formal styling ‘Queen Consort’. She is just simply called ‘the Queen’, as the QM was, and Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra and all the other wives of English/British monarchs in the past. They weren’t Queen regnants (reigning Queens) and neither is Camilla.

 

[Misskitty]

She isn’t co-regent. It doesn’t say that in the article. King Charles is the sole monarch. Camilla just isn’t using the formal styling ‘Queen Consort’. She is just simply called ‘the Queen’, as the QM was, and Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra and all the other wives of English/British monarchs in the past. They weren’t Queen regnants (reigning Queens) and neither is Camilla.

So it's what I said originally. It's easier to say Queen so they shorten the title. It's got nothing to do with her status.

I don't even know how I got in this debate in the first place. They put up pictures of Camilla in easily recognizable crown jewels saying Charlotte inherited the jewelry.

I said these were crown jewels and they belonged to the government. From there it went to Camilla was supposed to have a different title. I said princess Consort but she was always going to be Queen Consort.

Then a bunch of British people yelled that she was Queen not Queen Consort and that Buckingham Palace and Clarence House put out statements the Queen and Charles knew nothing about.

At this point Kate and Charles are sick and they're all struggling. I can't believe we're still arguing about this.

Anyway thank you

 

[Curryong]

You’re welcome. However, in future, if I were you I’d avoid debates in forums where people quite obviously don’t know anything about the stylings, or the difference (there isn’t any) between Queens as wives and Queen Consorts.

Nor about the Crown Jewels, or indeed anything about the monarchy asserted by people who don’t know anything about their own Head of State and his wife.

 

[Iluvbertie]

So it's what I said originally. It's easier to say Queen so they shorten the title. It's got nothing to do with her status.

They didn't shorten the title. The title for a Queen Regnant or a Queen Consort is the same HM The Queen. The terms 'Regnant' and 'Consort' are understood based on whether The Queen is the reigning monarch or the consort of the King.

Camilla's title is the same as Elizabeth II's and the late Queen Mum's while George VI was King - HM The Queen.

When Charles is no longer King and if Camilla outlives him she will move from HM The Queen to HM Queen Camilla and Catherine will become HM The Queen.

As for what was said in 2005 - the official engagement announcement said that the intention was that she would be Princess Consort when Charles become King but when asked in parliament a day or so before the wedding Tony Blair, the PM at the time, made it clear that Camilla would be The Princess of Wales but had chosen not to use that title and that the only way she wouldn't be The Queen was via legislation.