When the diamond-encrusted crown last worn at the inauguration of a monarch by Queen Mary, George V’s wife, at his coronation in 1911, is placed on Camilla’s white-blonde locks alongside her husband at the Coronation in May, the moment will mark the final transition of the Elizabethan age to the reign of King Charles III. It also sidesteps the need to use the crown containing the Koh-i-Noor jewel, whose ownership is disputed, thereby fending off a row with India and others. The new Queen will have underlined her regal status — sealing a new chapter amid the transitions of the House of Windsor.
The woman once kept on the sidelines as Charles’s mistress is now firmly inked into the ultimate female role of prominence in the royal pecking order: Queen Camilla.
