After all these years, Camilla Parker Bowles is still “petrified” of one aspect of royal life.
The Duchess of Cornwall, who married Prince Charles in April 2005, admitted in her new Australian Women’s Weekly cover story that “giving speeches” makes her nervous.
Parker Bowles, 74, also provided insight into her relationship with Charles’ late father, Prince Philip, in the rare interview.
“The Duke of Edinburgh was always a very good ear,” she recalls. “He was a role model for me and a really good person to take advice from because he always told me what he thought.”
Philip died at the age of 99 in April 2021 – on the wedding anniversary of his eldest son to Parker Bowles.
When Charles, 73, and Parker Bowles tied the knot, she did not take the title Princess of Wales, which previously belonged to Charles’s late ex-wife, Princess Diana. However, Parker Bowles shared her intention to serve as “Princess Consort” when her husband ascended the throne.
But in February, Queen Elizabeth II backed in a surprising statement that the Duchess became “Queen Consort”.
“When my son Charles becomes king in time, I know that you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me,” the 96-year-old monarch wrote in a letter to her subjects. †
“It is my sincere wish that, when the time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service,” she concluded.
Parker Bowles told spectators at a royal engagement that same month that she was “very, very honored” and “deeply moved” by the queen’s gesture.
Since then, the royal has taken over Meghan Markle’s former role as patron of the National Theatre. She also helped the Queen celebrate her platinum anniversary last month.
With such a busy schedule, Parker Bowles explained to British Vogue in June that she and Charles often feel like “ships passing in the night.”
She told the magazine, “We always sit down together and have a cup of tea and discuss the day. We have some time.”