It's fair to say that I'm not a fan of a monarchy. In fact, I'd abolish the whole institution given the opportunity. And I definitely think King Charles needs to be taking decisive action to push Andrew into a well-deserved obscurity.
But I'm also very much not a fan of this "Queen Consort" thing.
Now, technically, Queen Consort is a correct title - it differentiates someone who is Queen because they're married to the King (Camilla, or the old Queen Mother) versus the Queen Regnant, who is Queen in her own right (Elizabeth, Victoria, Elizabeth). But the truth is that the 'consort' bit is usually omitted - it is being used this time in deference to Diana and her enduring popularity.
But here's the thing: Diana has been dead for twenty-five years. And while she was horribly mistreated, including by Charles, it's also the case tha Charles was likewise mistreated in being forced to marry an 'appropriate' wife. (Indeed, one of the reasons I'm in favour of abolition is exactly that ongoing mistreatment of younger members of the family. A gilded cage is still a cage.)
It's also the case that Charles has been married to Camilla for longer now than he was married to Diana. He's obviously considerably happier with Camilla than he was with Diana.
And, as far as I can tell, in the last two decades Camilla has done nothing wrong. She is tarred, permanently, as "the other woman" - but she was the other woman in a relationship that was clearly disfunctional by the end and was probably doomed from the start.
So I'm very much not a fan of this Queen Consort business. In my opinion, she should just be Queen.
No comments:
Post a Comment