Camilla Her lovely smile was so unforgettable
The Queen Consort is to pay a televised tribute to the late Queen, recalling her “wonderful blue eyes” and saying: “I will always remember her smile.”
Camilla, in prerecorded words, will speak of how Queen Elizabeth II carved out her own role for many years in the “difficult position” of being a “solitary woman” in a maledominated world.
“I can’t remember anyone except the Queen being there,” the Queen Consort will add, being among the majority of the nation for whom the Queen was the only UK monarch they’d ever known or could recall.
The Queen Consort’s tribute to her motherin-law is set to be aired today – the eve of the Queen’s state funeral
– on the BBC, shortly before the national minute’s silence at 8pm.
Camilla will say: “She’s been part of our lives for ever. I’m 75 now and I can’t remember anyone except the Queen being there.
“It must have been so difficult for her being a solitary woman.
“There weren’t women prime ministers or presidents. She was the only one, so I think she carved her own role.”
Remembering the late monarch, Camilla will add: “She’s got those wonderful blue eyes, that when she smiles they light up her whole face. I will always remember her smile. That smile is unforgettable.”
Elizabeth II delivered a masterstroke on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee last February when she endorsed the thenDuchess of Cornwall to be known as Queen Consort when the time came.
The Queen said it was her “sincere wish” and called on the public to back both her daughterin-law and Charles when he became King.
It was a shrewd move from the monarch, setting her affairs in order and ensuring as smooth a transition as possible.
It ended years of debate over what Camilla would be called.
Camilla was blamed for the breakdown of the prince’s marriage to Diana and, when news of their affair first came to light, she faced criticism.
But in the decades after the Waleses’ divorce, the untimely death of Diana in 1997 and Camilla’s acceptance into The
Firm, the mood towards Camilla has softened.
After her wedding to Charles in 2005, Camilla took on a more prominent position in the Royal Family, including riding next to the Queen in her Diamond Jubilee carriage in 2012.
Now her style is Her Majesty and she will be crowned Queen at the King’s coronation.