Why will Camilla be queen when Prince Philip wasn’t a king? Inside the Duchess of Cornwall’s rise in popularity and why Queen Elizabeth’s royal protocols did not change for her husband
- Queen Elizabeth marked her 70th anniversary as queen with support for Camilla, announcing that the Duchess of Cornwall will be queen consort once Prince Charles is king
- According to British royal protocol, a king’s wife is always queen consort – so Kate Middleton will become Queen Catherine – while the same is not true of a queen’s husband
Queen Elizabeth made an unexpected announcement as part of her message to the British nation on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee, which marks her 70th year on the throne, earlier this week.
But why wasn’t Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and the queen’s husband ever king consort? And why did the queen wait so long to make this announcement?
Queen Elizabeth recently marked her 70th anniversary of ascending the throne
She chose to stay there on the special day as it is where her father King George VI passed away unexpectedly at the age of 56, on February 6, 1952 after a short illness. The then Princess Elizabeth and husband Prince Philip were in Kenya at the time, as part of a five-month overseas royal tour.
The queen chooses to reflect on her father on this day each year. Her own celebrations for her Platinum Jubilee will be held in the summer when the weather is better.