Camilla, the Queen Consort, is soon to be crowned beside her husband King Charles - a symbolic moment that will seal her place in the history of the monarchy. Camilla's journey from romantic involvement, to mistress, royal wife and finally Her Majesty has been played out over more than five decades, and culminates in her being anointed and crowned as the nation's Queen. There had been speculation about what title she would hold when Charles acceded to the throne, but the late Queen Elizabeth II put the rumours to bed on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee when she said it was her "sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort". On the coronation invitations and official souvenirs, she is already "Queen Camilla" - a far cry from the "Princess Consort" title she "intended" to one day use and announced at the time of her wedding, with royal aides even briefing she did not want to be Queen. The wife of a king automatically becomes a queen and only a change in legislation would have prevented her from being so. "The coronation is an appropriate time to start using 'Queen Camilla' in an official capacity," a royal source has said, with the official website set to be updated after Camilla is crowned. Joe Little, of Majesty magazine, said Camilla's rise has been relatively swift. "It's amazing what a difference 20 years makes. She's gone from not quite obscurity to the second highest in the land, so it's quite an upward trajectory in a relatively short period of time," he said. "Charles has made it clear in the last few years, what he's doing, he couldn't possibly have done without her. "So, I think people have been left in no doubt that she is invaluable to him in the same way Philip was to the Queen." Charles first met fun, confident Camilla on Windsor Great Park polo field in 1970 when he had just left Cambridge University, a year before he joined the Royal Navy. Legend has it that she was the one to remind him of a long-standing liaison between her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, and King Edward VII. "My great-grandmother was your great-great grandfather's mistress - how about it?" she is supposed to have asked. No marriage proposal came despite the closeness between them, and in 1971 Charles joined the Navy. The relationship cooled as he dedicated himself to duty and long periods away at sea. Camilla subsequently married cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, and Charles married the former Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 - but at some point in the 1980s, their romance resumed. In 1994 Charles confessed to adultery in a TV interview with broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, but only after his marriage had "irretrievably broken down". The following year Diana said in the BBC Panorama documentary: "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded" - a reference to Camilla. After Charles and Camilla both divorced - and Diana died in 1997 - Camilla's eventual emergence as Charles' long-term partner was part of a carefully planned PR campaign masterminded by his spin doctor Mark Bolland. The culmination of their romance was marriage, and a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on April 9, 2005, with Camilla becoming an HRH and the Duchess of Cornwall. But behind closed doors Camilla appears to have provided the King with the love and normal life, away from his public role, that he has always wanted. Since the Queen's death, the Queen Consort has faced criticism from her stepson the Duke of Sussex in his controversial memoir Spare. Harry branded Camilla "dangerous" and criticised her attempts to rehabilitate her image at his cost, saying she sacrificed him on "her personal PR altar". He did, however, describe her as not an "evil stepmother" and said they were "perfectly pleasant" when they saw one another. Australian Associated Press
