Queen Camilla: Will King Charles's wife drop consort title after his coronation

ByLama Hasan ABCNews logo
Monday, February 27, 2023
Queen Camilla: Will King Charles's wife drop consort title after his coronation
Will she be known as Queen Camilla and drop the "consort?"

There are questions over what Camilla will be known as after King Charles III's coronation.

Will it be Queen Camilla? Will she drop the "queen consort" title?

Traditionally to the wives of kings were simply known as queen.

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"Historically, the wives of kings have always technically been queen consort, which is different than a reigning queen, but they've still been known as queen. So the way that Camilla has been styled from the beginning as queen consort, there is a difference there," said ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy.

But Camilla will be the first divorcee to be crowned, and her journey to the throne has been an unusual one.

When she married Charles in 2005, the palace announced she would be known as "princess consort."

"There was still a lot of negativity towards the relationship, and one of the sticking points was the fact that the marriage would make her one day queen," Murphy said. "And so the palace came up with this totally different, lesser title: 'princess consort,' in order to shut down than argument.

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However, last year, on her platinum jubilee, the late Queen Elizabeth asked for her daughter-in-law to be known as the "queen consort" and now speculation is growing as to whether she will soon drop the consort.

"There has still been a huge turnaround in the last 20 years in how she is perceived by the public. She's now very much accepted in her role, something that would have been unthinkable two decades ago," Murphy said.

King Charles III will officially be crowned as the monarch on May 6.

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