Camilla will be able to take a place next to His Majesty Charles III with the confidence that the country will accept her. Credit goes to Queen Elizabeth, who addressed her subjects on the occasion of her 70th year on the throne with the wisdom and insight to which she has instilled us during her long reign. It was his “sincere wish” that his eldest son’s wife be given the title of “Queen Consort”, just like the Queen Mother and as Kate will probably one day,” writes the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Greenhouse, quoted by Rador .

The transformation of the former Mrs. Parker Bowles is one of the most talked about chapters in Windsor history, but far from gossip and slander, it is also a demonstration of the depth, strength and tenacity of a bond that Charles, now king, never wanted to surrender. For Diana, this was the cause of endless unhappiness: even before the wedding, the princess realized that the relationship between Charles and his lover was not over, despite her marriage and the opposition of his family (“that terrible woman,” the Queen Mother said of Camilla).

Diana found the gifts they had exchanged, she could hear them whispering on the phone. She considered calling off the wedding (her sister famously told her it was impossible: “your face is already on the kitchen towels”), and after the wedding she endured the complicity with which Charles and Camilla, a “Rottweiler”, exchanged impressions of situations , events and readings, and their one-on-one meetings, she had little in common with Charles. When Diana asked for the intervention of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Charles responded with a phrase repeated several times over the years: Camilla was a “non-negotiable” part of his life.

The fact that she is with him today is a victory that seemed impossible before. Even at the time of the marriage, in April 2005, the union between Charles and Camilla was not accepted by most of the British people. Elizabeth agreed only because Charles was adamant. The Queen denied his presence, asking that the ceremony be private and for a few close friends. Four months ago, he banned the couple from sitting together at the funeral of Princess Alexandra’s husband. Even in the palace, it was ruled out that the duchess could inherit the title of queen or any official role. Today she is Queen Consort, and Operation PB, the Parker Bowles operation devised by Charles in the immediate aftermath of his divorce from Diana, has achieved its desired goal.

King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla (Photo: Daniel Leal / AFP / Profimedia)

Through painstaking work, initially led by Mark Bolland, the former director of the media self-regulatory body, Charles managed to rehabilitate his girlfriend’s image. Together with various communication experts, he studied a precise and well-formulated campaign.

Diana’s death in 1997 and the country’s resurgence of affection for the Princess of Wales delayed some stages, but only temporarily, so the first pictures of the two together at Highgrove led to their first public appearance at the Ritz in 1999, meeting William and Harry, Charles’ sons, at a joint vacations, finally, at the marriage and reception of Philip and Elizabeth.

Small steps, never losing sight of the finish line. The woman who, with her divorce behind her, once looked like the Wallis Simpson heiress, may have even intended to make Charles lose the role he had been preparing for all his life, now at the center of the Windsor family, the king’s right hand, support and rock.

Camilla, the new Queen of Great Britain (Photo: Victoria Jones / PA Images / Profimedia)