Palace to drop ‘Consort’ title for Queen after ceremony

BUCKINGHAM Palace may soon move to officially describe Camilla as Queen, rather than Queen Consort, The Sunday Telegraph understands.

Royal aides are considering introducing the change after King Charles’s Coronation in May.

Queen Elizabeth II last February expressed her “sincere wish” that her daughter-in-law be known as Queen Consort when Charles became King.

Last week, Camilla launched the Queen’s Reading Room – with no mention of “Consort” – when she updated the name of her charity, the Duchess of Cornwall’s Reading Room.

It is likely that the Court Circular – the official register of royal engagements – will soon reflect the change.

Palace officials have been reportedly looking at precedent, including the titles used for the wife of George VI, Charles’s grandfather. As a non-reigning Queen, she was technically Queen Consort to George VI but was known in public simply as Queen Elizabeth.

Following his death in 1952, she was referred to as the Queen Mother when her daughter Elizabeth II ascended to the throne.

Similarly, when Queen Victoria died and was succeeded by her son Edward VII, his wife went from being known as the Princess of Wales to Queen Alexandra, without the “Consort”.

The Mail on Sunday, quoting a “wellplaced” royal source, reported: “There’s a view in the Palace that Queen Consort is cumbersome and it might be simpler for Camilla to be known just as the Queen when the time is right.

“Reading Room was a sign of that. Her Majesty is the Queen after all.”

They added: “There’s a feeling that the time will come when it’s simpler all round to refer to Camilla simply as our Queen. Until then she will be referred to as Queen Consort.”