How Queen Elizabeth Influenced Public Opinion of Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince Charles

Their relationship has slowly garnered some report from the public over the years despite a rocky beginning due to their affair helping end his first marriage to Princess Diana. However, any support that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles have received from the public may be a direct result of Queen Elizabeth’s eventually accepting them herself.

According to a 2017 documentary entitled “Wallis Simpsons—Royal Stories—Episode 5—Camilla Parker-Bowels,’ MORI founder Sir Robert Milton Worcester revealed that the turning point for the public on their opinions of the Duchess of Cornwall came after the Queen likely relented on her disapproval herself.

“The poll is at a higher level, which may be the effect of the Queen’s perhaps grudging acceptance of Camilla as Prince Charles’ consort,” he said (via Express UK).

The Queen famously opposed of the couple’s relationship and didn’t even acknowledge its existence for several years—until she finally met Camilla in June 2000 at the 60th birthday party of King Constantine, the former King of Greece. The fact that Her Majesty accepted an invitation to the event while knowing Parker Bowles would be in attendance was seen as a big step forward in the previously frosty relationship, especially after she had rejected an invitation to her own son’s 50th birthday party just two years prior because Camilla would be present.

After the Queen seemed to accept them, the couple went on to then bring their relationship more into the public eye, kissing for the first time in public at an event for the National Osteoporosis Society in 2001, and moving in together at Charles’ residence at Clarence House in 2003. The couple went on to become engaged in 2005 and married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall that same year.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were not present at the ceremony but were there at the Service of Prayer and Dedication held at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and the reception which followed.

However, while the public has been more supportive of the couple over the years, a recent poll seemed to suggest that Camilla still wouldn’t be welcomed as the Queen Consort all these years later. The poll, conducted by Express UK, showed that 73 percent of respondents said they didn’t feel Camilla should be given the Queen Consort title.