What happens to Camilla if Charles dies?
Camilla Parker-Bowles has been married to King Charles since 2005, but if she survives him, what will happen to her if he dies?
On Saturday, May 6th, 2023, King Charles III. officially crowned at Westminster Abbey in London in a service presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The coronation will be attended by Prince William, Kate Middleton and the Welsh children, as well as members of royal families from around the world.
Whether Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will attend the historic event remains to be seen after the former stepped down from royal duties and released his telltale memoir, Spare.
What’s Camilla’s title now?
Since the Queen’s death in September 2022, Camilla has held the title of Queen Consort of the United Kingdom. The title indicates that she is a king’s wife, rather than a queen’s title, since members who marry into the royal family cannot inherit the throne.
For years, however, there was controversy over the title Charles’ second wife would bear upon his accession to the throne.
Around the time of Charles and Camilla’s 2005 wedding, an official press release from Buckingham Palace claimed that she would take on the inferior title of Princess Consort, according to the Showbiz Cheat Sheet. However, it was later removed from the official channels, again raising doubts about the matter.
What happens to Camilla if Charles dies?
There is no concrete plan for Camilla’s title if Charles dies before her. The Queen Consort will technically become Queen Dowager, which is the name given to a king’s widow, but that doesn’t mean that’s the title she will bear.
When King Charles dies, Prince William, who is the heir apparent, becomes king. It’s possible that Camilla could become known as the Queen Mother, the title held by Queen Elizabeth II’s mother after the death of her father, King George VI. But since Camilla is just Prince William’s stepmother, that seems less likely.
Camilla chose not to be known as the Princess of Wales
Before Charles’ accession to the throne, he was known as the Prince of Wales, as the heir always is. When he and Princess Diana married, she was known, both officially and publicly, as the Princess of Wales.
Diana and Charles officially divorced in 1996, following his very public affair with Camilla and the BBC interview in which Diana famously said, “There are three of us in this marriage.”
After the scandal, Camilla opted for the title Duchess of Cornwall, equivalent to Charles, Duke of Cornwall’s highest subsidiary title at the time, rather than Princess of Wales when the couple finally tied the knot.
In other news, late actress Rebecca Jones bravely spoke out about being diagnosed with cancer in 2022
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/03/24/what-happens-to-camilla-when-charles-dies/ What happens to Camilla if Charles dies?
