By Danica Kirka
King Charles III’s wife has been officially identified as Queen Camilla for the first time, with Buckingham Palace using the title on invitations for the monarch’s May 6 coronation.
Camilla, who until now has been described as queen consort, is given equal billing on the ornate medieval style invitations that will be sent to more than 2,000 guests and were unveiled on Tuesday.
The new title is another step in the remarkable transformation of a woman once derided as a homewrecker because of her role in the breakdown of Charles’ marriage to the late Princess Diana.
Charles and Camilla met long before the future king married Diana in 1981 and their relationship continued throughout the tumultuous marriage. That made Camilla an object of scorn among Diana’s many fans, who rallied around the princess as her marriage collapsed.
But Camilla has won over much of the British public with her warmth and down-to-earth humor since she married Charles in a civil ceremony in 2005. The late Queen Elizabeth II early last year issued a statement saying she hoped Camilla would be known as “queen consort” when Charles became king.
Camilla will be crowned alongside her husband on May 6 at Westminster Abbey.
The palace released a few more details about the coronation on Tuesday, announcing that 9-year-old Prince George, the king’s eldest grandson, who is second in line to the throne, would be one of four pages of honor attending the monarch during the service. Camilla will also have four pages.
The eight young pages are either family friends or close relatives of Charles and Camilla and will carry the robes of prominent figures during the day.
The coronation invitations feature the ancient motif of the Green Man in a nod to the monarch’s record of supporting conservation and environmental protection.
The Green Man is “an ancient figure from British folklore, symbolic of spring and rebirth, to celebrate the new reign,” the palace said.
“The shape of the Green Man, crowned in natural foliage, is formed of leaves of oak, ivy and hawthorn, and the emblematic flowers of the United Kingdom.”
The design, created by heraldic artist and manuscript illuminator Andrew Jamieson, will be printed on a recycled card with gold foil detailing.
