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A royal commentator claims Camilla Parker Bowles will end an “archaic” royal family legacy under her new reign alongside King Charles III. Camilla will be crowned queen consort in a Westminster Abbey ceremony in the spring of 2023.

King Charles III and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, attend the Order of the Garter Service at St George's Chapel on June 13, 2022, in Windsor, England.
King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles | Toby Melville/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Camilla Parker Bowles will be crowned with her husband, King Charles II

The Queen Consort will be by the King’s side when he is crowned on May 6, 2023. Plans for Charles’ investiture have been in place since his mother, Queen Elizabeth II‘s coronation in 1953. Camilla’s role was confirmed during Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee. Elizabeth declared Camilla would be known as Queen Consort upon King Charles’s accession.

The coronation of the new sovereign follows a period of mourning and preparation required to organise the ceremony. Charles was named King of the United Kingdom upon his mother’s death in September 2022. Camilla’s title was also changed accordingly at that time.

Following the King’s six-part coronation ceremony, the Queen Consort will have her own according to the royal family’s website. “A Queen Consort is crowned with the King, in a similar, but a simpler ceremony.” The last Queen Consort to be crowned as the Queen Mother was alongside King George VI in 1937.

Camilla plans to modernize and streamline the monarchy by eliminating some of Queen Elizabeth’s most beloved roles within the organization.

A royal commentator claims Camilla Parker Bowles will end an ‘archaic’ royal family legacy

Camilla Parker Bowles, King Charles III and Lady Susan Hussey (Lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II) watch the racing as they attend day 2 of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse on June 15, 2022.
Camilla Parker Bowles, King Charles III and Lady Susan Hussey, lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth II | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
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How Much Power Will Camilla Parker Bowles Have as Queen Consort?

Per Express, Camilla, Queen Consort, will end a royal family legacy upon the beginning of her reign. She will not employ traditional ladies-in-waiting. Instead, she has chosen to have “queen’s companions.”

Royal commentator Jennie Bond says the title change puts a “modern twist” on royal life. It ends the roles employed by Queen Elizabeth II throughout her 70-year reign.

The position of lady-in-waiting is unpaid. The job is bestowed upon aristocrats sufficiently wealthy enough that they don’t need to work. Their expenses are covered by the royal family. However, Bond claims the role of queen companion will not be “fundamentally different” from ladies-in-waiting.

She admitted, “It’s largely cosmetic, but this is a small way, a modern twist on a job which won’t be fundamentally very different to the ladies-in-waiting in the past. But it’s such an archaic term, ‘ladies-in-waiting’; these are six of Camilla’s close companions, friends who are loyal and discreet, and who she enjoys spending time with.”

“On these royal duties, it can be quite lonely if you’re doing solo engagements, traveling on your own, and then doing the engagement by yourself and traveling home,” Bond continued.

“So she’ll have a bit of a laugh, a bit of a giggle with her friends. They’ll be there by her side and she’ll feel comfortable with them.”

The queen consort’s companions will include a mix of old friends

The Washington Post revealed that Camilla’s companions will include a mix of old and longstanding friends. The following women will stand by the queen consort’s side throughout her reign.

Camilla’s new queen’s companions include long-standing and close friends, as per the list provided by the palace: “The Marchioness of Lansdowne (Fiona), Mrs von Westenholz (Jane), The Hon. Lady Brooke (Katharine), Mrs Peter Troughton (Sarah), [and] Lady Sarah Keswick.”

The queen consort will also have a new full-time equerry, a military officer who acts as a royal assistant, Major Ollie Plunket, of the Rifles.

The former ladies-in-waiting who served the late Queen Elizabeth II will now help King Charles to host events at Buckingham Palace and will be known as “ladies of the household”.