King Charles III and Queen Camilla crowned in Westminster Abbey
A ceremony full of tradition and innovation attended by, in addition to the British Royal family, Monarchs, Heads of State and dignitaries from around the world, broadcast worldwide officially opened the era of Charles III of the United Kingdom.
Charles III, born on November 14, 1948 as Charles Philip Arthur George ascended the throne on September 8, 2023 upon the death of his mother Elizabeth II. On May 6, 2023, the solemn coronation ceremony of Charles and his wife Camilla as king and queen of the United Kingdom and 14 Commonwealth kingdoms was held in Westminster Abbey in London. The coronation was the first by a British monarch in the 21st century, and the ceremony was modified from previous ones by making it shorter than that of Elizabeth II in 1953.
A long wait
His mother Elizabeth II, during her long reign broke several records such as the “longest-serving monarch” and the “longest reign in history” of the United Kingdom. Charles, on the other hand, results as the oldest sovereign at the time of his ascension to the throne and was heir to the British throne from 1952 to 2022, often being referred to as “the eternal heir to the throne” and sometimes leading to speculation that after Elizabeth II’s reign his eldest son William, now Prince of Wales and the new heir to the throne, would take the throne directly.
End of the era of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
The years of the scandals
In 1981 Charles, at the time heir to the throne, married Lady Diana Spencer, and from this marriage were born sons William (1982), now heir to the throne, and Henry known as Harry (1984). This marriage ended among quarrels, infidelities and scandals: in 1992, the two formally separated, and Queen Elizabeth II, after consulting with Prime Minister John Major, the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, and her private secretary Robert Fellowes, agreed to a divorce in 1995.
Queen Camilla, born July 17, 1947 as Camilla Rosemary Shand, is the daughter of Bruce Shand, a British army officer who later became a wine merchant, and the Honorable Rosalind Cubitt. Her maternal great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was the mistress of King Edward VII.
He was educated at several prestigious institutions in the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland where he attended Mon Fertile in Tolochenaz (VD).
In 1973 by Catholic rite, she married Andrew Parker Bowles then an officer in the Royal Horse Guards, from whom were born children Tom (1974), for whom King Charles III is godfather, and Laura (1978). The children were raised Catholic, (father’s faith) while Camilla remained faithful to the Anglican Church. In 1995, Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles divorced.
Queen Camilla had gravitated to the ruler’s life since the 1970s and they continued to date despite the fact that they were both married (the late Princess Diana stated in an interview that her marriage was too crowded).
For long years the two were despised by subjects and tabloids: Charles was seen as a cheating husband (Diana was beloved by British people) and Camilla as a home wrecker, called by Lady Diana “rottweiler” and by Elizabeth II herself an “evil woman.”
In 2005 Charles and Camilla were married in what was the first civil marriage for an heir to the throne (he was already a widower but she was divorced) and consent had to be obtained not only from Elizabeth II (it seems she granted it with some reluctance) who was also head of the Church of England, but also from Parliament and the Church of England itself of which Charles was to become Supreme Governor upon his accession to the throne. She and Prince Philip did not attend the civil ceremony, but took part in a religious blessing and held a reception in their honor at Windsor Castle.
From mistress to queen
As the years passed Elizabeth II, public opinion, and even the press rehabilitated the couple of Charles and Camilla. On the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee for her 70 years of reign, Elizabeth II expressed her wish for Camilla to become queen.She became queen at age 75, making her the oldest consort of a U.K. monarch at the time of her accession to the throne.
On September 8, 2022, after Elizabeth II’s death she became Her Majesty the Queen Consort while from May 6, 2023 she assumed the title of Her Majesty the Queen.
