It’s their first year as King and Queen Consort, but Charles and Camilla celebrated Valentine’s Day a little differently on February 14, 2023.
While the royal couple had organized to spend the yearly celebration of love apart anyway—Camilla was to attend a solo trip to Elmhurst Ballet School to celebrate its 100th anniversary with students, staff and alumni—COVID-19 had other plans. The Queen Consort tested positive for the virus the day before Valentine’s Day and had to cancel her public engagements. “After suffering the symptoms of a cold, Her Majesty The Queen Consort has tested positive for the COVID virus,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “With regret, she has therefore canceled all her public engagements for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due to attend them.” It was initially unclear whether King Charles would be isolated with her, but it appeared they ended up spending V-Day together in the end.
How did Charles and Camilla celebrate Valentine’s Day?
How did Charles and Camilla celebrate Valentine’s Day? Well, it seems like they were isolated together. In a video interview published by Hello! magazine, Camilla spoke of how odd it was that their diary had been cleared of all royal engagements because of her being COVID-positive. “It’s very peculiar. You suddenly look at the diary and everything is scratched out,” she said. “My husband is a workaholic, so he’ll work wherever he is. He’s sitting at his desk now working away. We try to do something for all our charities most days.”
Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images.
It’s a year to the day since Camilla and then-Prince Charles last tested positive for the virus and the couple has been triple-vaccinated. “People who are unvaccinated are at least 10 times more likely to be hospitalized or die than those who have had two vaccine doses. That is why we urge everyone to get vaccinated and to take up the booster, as we have done ourselves,” they said in a statement in 2022.
The Royal couple will celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary on April 9, 2023, less than a month before Charles’ coronation as the new King of Britain. The coronation will take place on May 6, 2023, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. According to the Daily Mail, the new King is set to break coronation conventions and be significantly different from when his mother was crowned. “The King has stripped back a lot of the Coronation in recognition that the world has changed in the past 70 years,” an insider told Daily Mail. The coronation has been planned for years under the name “Operation Gold Orb.”
Camilla will be crowned alongside King Charles III during his coronation ceremony. Camilla will be crowned as Queen Consort for the first time since the Queen Mother in 1937 (Prince Philip did not take the King Consort title due to the longstanding tradition that “King” is reserved for the reigning monarch). Camilla will be crowned with a platinum crown, decorated with 2,800 diamonds including the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor.
Queen Consort is the title given to the female partner to the King. It’s not a formal role but symbolizes this person’s support to the reigning monarch. For years, it was believed Camilla would become the princess consort, which would have been a first in British history but applied to Grace Kelly during her marriage to Rainier III, ruler of Monaco. At the time of Camila’s marriage to Charles in 2005, royal aides suggested that she did not want to be called Queen and had “intended” to be known as Princess Consort, leaving open the possibility of her changing her mind later.
Image: Stephen Pond/Getty Images
Titles were also a little sensitive at the time. Charles and the beloved Princess Diana had divorced (a royal scandal in its own right), partially due to his affair with Camilla. A year later, Diana died in a car crash aged 38. “Princess consort was a compromise that arose because of the sense of grief and anger, notably at the death of Princess Diana,” Royal family historian Dr. Cindy McCreery told ABC Australia. “But also at the resentment in many quarters towards Camilla for what many people felt was the improper relationship that Charles and Camilla had during the time that Charles was still married to Diana.”
Public perception of Camilla slowly shifted towards the positive, however. In late February 2022, Queen Elizabeth II supported the notion that her son’s wife would adopt the Queen Consort title. ‘’When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes king, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me,’’ the Queen said in a statement the night before her Platinum Jubilee, which celebrated her 70th year as ruler of the British monarchy. “And it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service.” Charles responded in his own statement shortly after, saying, “We are deeply conscious of the honor represented by my mother’s wish. As we have sought together to serve and support Her Majesty and the people of our communities, my darling wife has been my own steadfast support throughout.”
The Queen: Her Life. Amazon
For more about the British Royal Family, check out Andrew Morton’s comprehensive biography, The Queen: Her Life. The New York Times bestselling author revealed intimate details of a “painfully shy” Elizabeth Windsor and her ascension to the throne at age 25 to become the Commonwealth’s longest reigning monarch. Morton examines the influence she had over Britain and the rest of the world as a reluctant but resolute ruler. This is the story of a woman of unflagging self-discipline who will long be remembered as a mother and grandmother to Great Britain, and one of the greatest sovereigns of the modern era.
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