At home with CAMILLA

A revealing portrait of the hard-working Duchess as she adds editing Country Life magazine to her demanding schedule

CAMILLA’S COUNTRY LIFE Wednesday, ITV, 9pm

We saw her recently at the State Opening of Parliament, when Prince Charles stood in for the Queen, and as one of the few working Royals to appear on the Palace balcony, she was central to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Now Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall (above), has taken on a new role as guest editor of Country Life as it marks its 125th anniversary. Cameras have gone behind the scenes to follow the Duchess – who celebrates her

75th birthday next week – as she goes about her work as editor of the country set’s bible, alongside her official duties. The one-off documentary is an eye-opening glimpse of her demanding schedule and the breadth of her public and private commitments.

One moment she’s at the Royal

Cornwall Show, where a rose is named after her, the next she’s among the racegoers for the

Grand National at Aintree.

Camilla is seen with the Prince of Wales at their London home, Clarence House, as he gets ready for the opening of Parliament. We also see her work with charities that are close to her heart, including rescuing victims of domestic abuse and combating knife crime.

Throwing herself into the

Country Life role, she proclaims: ‘It’s quite hard work but I’m loving it.’ At the magazine’s anniversary party, she’s joined by a throng of celebrity guests, among them

Dame Judi Dench and Paul O’Grady, whom she has commissioned to write an article about the Battersea Dogs and

Cats Home. He says admiringly of the Duchess: ‘She’s so good with people – she can talk to anyone.’

Surely the greatest challenge Camilla has given herself as editor is penning a piece about Prince Charles, and she confesses: ‘It’s not easy writing about your husband. I bit through several pencils.’ But most compelling of all are the moments when the Duchess is among her family and others who know her best.

On a visit to Hall Place, the

Hampshire seat of her grandparents, Camilla is joined by her sister Annabel as they share reminiscences about their childhood – from catching butterflies to giving a beloved teddy bear a resting place in the garden. Plus there’s a revealing insight into the Duchess’s close friend Sarah Troughton, first cousin once removed of the Queen, who says of Camilla: ‘She’s got a wicked sense of humour – risqué as well as naughty – and that’s what gives her her charm.’

Don’t miss this unprecedentedly candid portrait of our future Queen Consort.