Fit for a Queen?

I was listening to LBC on the car radio over the weekend.  Apparently in a survey 55% of people voted for Camilla not to be Queen when Charles eventually takes to the throne.  The radio presenter seemed surprised and not altogether certain that was a representative figure. Surely people have warmed to Camilla? The phone-in that followed seemed to produce a lot of people who like Camilla and thought the survey unfair.

At the time of Charles' marriage to Camilla ten years ago, the Royal Household put out some sort of compromising pacifier that she would only be referred to as the Princess Consort, when Charles eventually becomes King.  This was because at the time there was still a lot of deep feeling amongst the public about the way Diana had been treated. As Diana had said in that famous TV  interview, there were three of them in the marriage, so Camilla could not be entirely blameless in what then went on to happen to Diana. But I could not help but notice that gradually over the years, the Camilla PR machine has been pounding on to make her look like Mother Teresa. It was inevitable that eventually the Princess Consort thing would gradually morph into Queen, in the hopes that people would forget.

Many argued in the programme I listened to that the past is past, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, Camilla is a decent stick really, the Royal family are only human after all and she should take up her place as Queen, when the time comes. It made me shudder.

I was always a great fan of Diana. Yes, she was young; yes, she may have been a bit of a drama queen when she found out Charles didn't love her, but she could be surely forgiven for that, particularly because her dashing prince was already straying before the wedding ring was on her finger. Camilla was already smirking in the wedding congregation and exchanging texts and gifts to Charles on the sly.  Diana certainly did a hell of lot worldwide for GB Ltd,  for the fashion industry in particular, and for the Royal Household's hitherto rather dowdy image. Not least, she produced two very dashing heirs, whilst at the same time making sure they were fully grounded and in tune with ordinary people around them. The fact that so many people love William now is down to  what Diana made him. She herself was keen to be an ambassador, the Queen of Hearts, someone to care for the downtrodden or poor: to give out the love she never had. Her untimely death was a shock and the nation (if not the whole world) poured out its grief at her funeral. I have never by the way believed her death was an accident. I believe one day the real truth will emerge. It might take a hundred years, but it will come.

If Charles and Camilla had a thing going before Diana came on the scene, they should have taken their opportunity to marry then, before Camilla upped and married someone else.  Charles should have been man enough to stand up and chose the woman he really wanted rather than bow to the pressures of the establishment. He has shown he can stand up to things when he wants to. Talking of the establishment, I always think it's funny how the Queen's sister was not allowed to marry a divorced man, yet three of the Queen's own children ended up divorced.  The couple have now got what they wanted - each other - but it should be at a cost. They can't surely expect to have their cake AND eat it. I would even go as far as to say I would prefer that Charles should not even become King, (let alone Camilla Queen) although constitutionally there is no way round that. So stuck with Charles we are, but Camilla. No way. (In any case, if she were to be made Queen, it would mean The Royal Household had broken the promise they made ten years ago. Not exactly confidence-inspiring or a role model for us lesser mortals).

Like an elephant, there is just no way I can forget.

What do you think?