The rehabilitation of Charles and Camilla

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[WilliamDaily] The rehabilitation of Charles and Camilla



The rehabilitation of Charles and Camilla

There are strong signals of a royal wedding, reports Paul Daley in
London.


Almost six years ago when Princess Diana died with her lover in a
Paris car accident, another woman on the fringes of royalty became
more reviled than perhaps any other since Wallace Simpson.

The tabloids had led public opinion to believe that Camilla Parker
Bowles had contributed more than anyone to the break-up of Diana's
marriage with Prince Charles.

Had it not been for Mrs Parker Bowles, the reasoning went, Charles
and Diana's marriage would have survived and Diana's life would not
have steered on to such a reckless, ultimately perilous, course.

At Diana's funeral the royals - with the exceptions of Princes Harry
and William - reached an all-time nadir in public support. While
theoretically Diana's death gave Charles the freedom to be with his
secret consort, whatever dreams he may have had of living openly with
Mrs Parker Bowles were overshadowed by a more immediate concern -
regaining enough public credibility to be seen as worthy, one day,
for the throne.

Diana was dead. But Mrs Parker Bowles was left to live on in the huge
shadow cast by her opponent's death at a time when the Princess of
Wales was at her most glamorous, photogenic and popular.

There was another unwanted, perhaps even unwarranted, legacy when
Diana's nickname for Mrs Parker Bowles - "the Rottweiler" - was
widely embraced.

"Their relationship continued - she was close by his side throughout
the trauma of Diana's death and the massive public antipathy that
followed," a royal source says. "But a very conscious decision was
made by Charles on the advice of his courtiers to hide her away and
keep her out of public view for the immediate future. The public
needed time to get over Diana, to see Charles suffer alone."

Suffer, Charles almost certainly did, if only from the public
ignominy over the way he had treated his former wife and over the
fact that his children had lost such a beloved mother. Alone? Almost
certainly not. For some years, Mrs Parker Bowles has had rooms in St
James's Palace, the home of Charles and his sons when they are not at
school and university. "She has been a de facto part of the family
for some years - the princes accepted her long ago," the royal source
says. "There is a view Charles and she have now been 'rehabilitated'."

Tomorrow, the 50th anniversary of the Queen's coronation, will show
just how successfully the strategy of Charles's courtiers has paid
off.

In the strongest sign yet that she is beginning to accept Mrs Parker
Bowles as a permanent and legitimate consort to her son, the Queen
has invited Mrs Parker Bowles and her father to the commemoration at
Westminster Abbey.

The London Daily Mail's respected royal commentator, Richard Kay,
wrote that the invitation to Mrs Parker Bowles and her father
was "the most powerful sign yet of her growing warmth towards
Camilla".

Mrs Parker Bowles is also expected to co-host with Prince Charles a
private dinner for the Queen at Clarence House - the Queen Mother's
home for 50 years, which has recently been extravagantly refurnished
to become the Prince of Wales's new residence.

Mrs Parker Bowles will have a permanent suite there.

Although public attitudes to Mrs Parker Bowles and Charles have
reportedly softened in recent years, there is still widespread
opposition to the couple marrying.

Although their marriage would have seemed unthinkable just three
years ago, Buckingham Palace believes the mood is changing. An
announcement appears imminent. Speculation has heightened since the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, apparently gave his
blessing for a wedding.