Last year, around the coronation, I started to get the feeling that all was not well between King Charles and Queen Camilla. It felt like as soon as Camilla got the big prize – she was queen of all she surveyed – she lost interest or no longer wanted to do much for “the crown.” I also got the feeling that between Charles and Camilla, Camilla was the one with health issues which were not being disclosed. Crash cut to this year, and Camilla is the last royal standing (currently on vacation) and Charles has cancer and there are some pretty terrible rumors about the state of his health. Well, one of Camilla’s defenders is now chiming in about how Camilla “won’t be bullied” by the men in grey. Oh??
A royal insider has claimed Queen Camilla is holding her own among the palace men in grey after taking on a larger official role following King Charles’s cancer diagnosis. Royal photographer Arthur Edwards said Camilla, 76, will support the King “whatever happens”, with the Queen serving as a source of strength for the monarch.
“The King is carrying a heavy load, but Camilla is supporting him with it,” he told The Sun newspaper’s Royal Exclusive show on Wednesday. “They laugh a lot. She’s no doormat – she stands up to him, she won’t be bullied. This relationship has been going on a long while now and they’re incredibly happy together. She will be there supporting him whatever happens until the very end.”
Meanwhile, royal biographer Tom Quinn told the Mirror newspaper that Charles’s condition may be “more dangerous” than the public has been led to believe.
“Officials had assumed Charles would remain healthy at least into his mid-eighties before succession planning would need to begin but in fact it has now begun and indicates perhaps that Charles’ cancer is more dangerous than we have been led to believe,” he told the outlet on Tuesday.
However, Mr Edwards shot down speculation that Charles is gravely ill and said he believes the King will make a “full recovery”.
“I suspect the King is going to make a full recovery,” he told The Sun. “We don’t know when the King will be back at work or back facing the public (and) the reason he doesn’t do that is that he can’t afford to catch colds or an illness or the flu which would hamper his treatment. The reason he’s keeping away from the public eye is because of that. It’s not because he doesn’t want to. It’s because the doctors have ordered him not to.”
Re: The Men in Grey… I’ve long suspected that in addition to the established courtiers who surround Charles and Camilla in a formal capacity, Camilla has always had her own side-operation with informal advisors, journalists, press barons and trusted family members. That’s what makes her bulletproof in many ways – there’s the palace protecting her, but her side-operation is always around to do her dirty work and/or shut down speculation and rumors. All of which to say, I wonder if Camilla’s choice to jet off on holiday was well-received in Buckingham Palace, but Camilla’s side-operation is working in overdrive to ensure that Camilla still comes out ahead… even when it looks like she’s abandoned her cancer-stricken husband so she can get spa treatments.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Royals attend Day 4 of Royal Ascot. Featuring: King Charles III and Queen Camilla Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 23 Jun 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive at Orly Airport, Paris, at the start of the State Visit to France. Featuring: King Charles III and Queen Camilla Where: Paris, France When: 20 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Queen Camilla during a visit to Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte vineyard in Bordeaux, to learn about about sustainable vineyard practices in the Bordeaux wine producing region, on day three of the state visit to France. Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: Bordeaux, France When: 22 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive to attend a dinner at Mansion House in London, to recognise the work of the City of London civic institutions and Livery Companies, the city’s ancient and modern trade guilds. Featuring: King George III, Camilla Queen Consort Where: London, United Kingdom When: 18 Oct 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Queen Camilla, during a visit to Mtongwe Naval Base in Mombasa, where she and King Charles III will also watch the Kenya Marines, trained by His Majesty’s Royal Marines, demonstrate a covert beach landing, showing defence collaboration in action, on day three of the state visit to Kenya. Featuring: Camilla Queen Consort Where: Kuruwitu, Kenya When: 02 Nov 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles and Queen Camilla attending St Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate. Featuring: King Charles and Queen Camilla Where: Sandringham, United Kingdom When: 18 Feb 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Queen Camilla, during an event to present the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education, at Buckingham Palace in London Featuring: Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 Feb 2024 Credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Thanksgiving service for the life of King Constantine of the Hellenes at St George’s Chapel Featuring: Queen Camilla departs after attending a thanksgiving service for the life of King Constantine of the Hellenes at St George’s Chapel Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 27 Feb 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I believe that.
I also think she is one of the few in that family with a brain and a strong level of tenacity.
(before anyone starts; that is not a compliment but an observation. I wish she used it for better things).
Cam probably went to that indian wedding where everybody was. Our Cam had a lifetime of vengeful sideying and bullying experience. She has the bully mindset so I guess she can play a few steps ahead. To me all this only highlights how obvious it is that charles is not well liked in the family in a time like this – it’s just business as usual and they’re all vacationing. and obviously alos, no one cares about Prince Huevo. This mornarchy is only nothing without QEII.
“Tenacity” must be the new definition for wicked, conniving w i t c h. I won’t be surprised she’s hoarding a hole lotta that stolen jewelry. And you know what? I do hope she robs the crown blind. They deserve it for the centuries of carnage.
Charles thought her how to use the press, and now she’s using it against them all. Good!
Sounds suspiciously like the W&K story about “Kate giving as good as she got”. And it pretty much sounds like KC at least tries bullying, but Cam won’t be bullied because she is the bully. They all are. No wonder there is so much in-fighting.
I would love to see Camzilla turn her flair for malevolence and manipulation against the Monarchy. She’s been done with his pen tantrums for a while, I bet. https://youtu.be/Rj5OlUMWGs4?si=gh2rzuTHEqI4q8ya
I agree she has her own side operation of advisers that being the gutter press willing to write whatever she wants them too. Harry has said he believes his family is afraid of the press. They don’t want bad press so they get into bed with them. Horsilla proves him right with her friends in the press who she entertains . So she is bulletproof. They protect her because it seems she is the biggest leaker. So she has the crown and will do whatever it is she wants.
I think she’s been largely responsible over the years for evolution of the chokehold the BM and their “invisible contract” currently have over members of the RF. Fortunately for her, she had the perfect partner in Charles, a man so self-involved and jealous there’s almost no one he won’t agree to sell out for positive PR
She’s been playing this game a long, long time. I’m sure she’s more than a match for the courtiers.
Sounds like the Palaces need to conduct another bullying investigation….
Interesting how that word keeps popping up. The royal households sound like a nest of vipers.
Spoiler Alert! They are a nest of vipers.
Trying to go into the weekend with positive vibes so I’ll say something nice. I like her bracelet in the top photo.
Anyway. What succession plans need to be put into place? Charles dies, William gets the job. Unless they’re trying to figure out a way to make William learn the job then good luck to them.
The rest is a swipe at anyone who has complained about the structure of the monarchy and Charles.
The plans are how big a parade. Who will walk behind. Etc. etc. And I’m sure most of them have been in the planning stage for the last few years anyway. This reporter is just using that info to spice up the boring story.
The accession council can skip someone, but they would have to have a very strong reason. Being unable to fulfill duties could be used. If PW wants the job, he might want to step up here.
They just did the big succession for the Charles-after-Elizabeth transition; take the same plans, substitute a few names, and there you are. Shouldn’t be too tough.
I do believe that this woman is capable of scheming. One of the very weird choices she made was hiring a comms manager who had no background in communications. Tobyn Andreae was a tabloid editor, which is interesting given the invisible contract between the royals and the media. She has a loyal group of friends. She has maintained a close relationship to the husband she doesn’t live with and who is known as being emotionally difficult—she’s reputedly good at dealing with him. And she has a voice piece with deep roots in the royal rota. I could believe that she’s less fearful of the men in grey because she’s got a bit of protection from them.
M now going to ‘leak’ what she is afraid of. She’s terrified of cats. Have it on Good Authority. Any cat lover can’t be all bad which is why I’m so conflicted sometimes.
She has loyal tabloid sycophants, who she keeps sweet by throwing parties for them.
Grey men probably don’t dare push their luck too far with her, knowing that Chuck will do anything for her. There’s also the fact that she knows where the bodies are buried; she would not hesitate to drop some stories & names to the press that would bring down the monarchy around Chuck’s prodigious lugs if they try to fling her out.
At this point, the “men in grey” are indistinguishable from the tabloid press.
This woman has been plotting and planning for an entire lifetime. She has her finances locked up, her own lavish home, her own shadow court. What could the men in grey do to her – smear her reputation? She hasn’t cared about that for decades, why should she care now? And her ace card is that Charles loves her.
Whatever love is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I don’t think Charles loves her. I just think she was the one he got caught with in the divorce from Diana. So to save his own reputation. She was the one he had to stick with. Saying it was all because they were in love. And now he can’t do anything about it.
Maybe he doesn’t love her the way we define love, but he is protective of her and seems to give her whatever she wants. Whatever the reason, the men in grey are not going to go against that.
Charles spun the great love story to try to remove the sordidness of it.
The fact that the papers have been singing her praises even after she jetted off on a spa vacay says everything about Camilla’s connections. There’s a chance BP didn’t approve of her trip but there’s no reason to burn her when they’re waging a war on the heir and his wife.
Wow throwing buttons under the bus here
Of course not, she is the bully
Cams has nothing to lose so why would she let herself be bullied by the men in grey? What could they do to her? Her husband’s medical condition is at least partially known. If she had secret lovers who would care? Please. Even if they found the missing Nizam of Hyderabad buried in her flower beds the sycophantic press would write how it fell off while she was leaning out her window blowing goodbye kisses to CRex.
It’s interesting that being independent and having agency is now seen as a positive attribute in a royal woman and there’s also an admission that the men in grey bully royals.
So interesting and ironic how ironic it is.
🎯. This is actually rather huge, but gets lost in the noise. I’d venture to add: it’s mostly FEMALE royals they bully.
This woman is the original honey badger. She will do what she wants and She Does Not Care.
She would not be where she is except for C-Rex being fully cooperative with her, Men in Grey – pffffft have no control over her, no one does.
This is interesting. I totally agree: 1) She’s proven she can play the long game, and 2) I’ve long suspected she’s unwell — Parkinson’s or something similar. At times, there’s a hand tremor, which one can dismiss as jitters or even essential tremor. But I’ve seen a fair bit of head bobbing, too.
But didn’t her son come out with his whole chest to rebuff that long-game claim during the con-a-nation?
seems a bit like divine retribution to me that she spent her whole life scheming and plotting to get where she is now-and how dreadful the whole thing turned out to be.
Have the Men in Grey Suits ever tried to bully Willy or is it just the married ins and Harry? Didn’t Fergie when heavily pregnant get such a telling off from one of those brutes that she claimed her unborn child turned round into breach position?
It’s mostly/just the women (including QEII)—except for Harry.
The quote actually says that Camilla won’t be bullied by *Charles*, not the men in grey, which is way more interesting IMO. I think Charles was angry that Camilla ruined their once-in-a-lifetime perfect run of press with her “vacation” aka her annual cosmetic rejuvenation before the Commonwealth service really kicks off the royal season. He lashed out and leaked all her private jet details because he was mad at her, and now this is her saying that she won’t be bullied into cutting her trip short to make him happy.
Everyone in this f*cked up family communicates through the press.
This. My headcanon is that Camilla just grabs the jet and heads for India to let Charles know he’s taken the grouch thing too far. Message received and all is well when she returns.
I agree; She’s really throwing her weight around and Charles can do nothing about it. She knows too much, and it was he who thought her how to use the press; but now her invisible contract is independent of his. With all she knows, and the connections she has, Camzilla can destroy him and William in one fell swoop. Unlike Harry, the two of them have been really stupid when it comes to dealing with her. That’s why Harry was smart enough to shush her from his meeting with Charles. What Harry said about the dangerous inherent in his father’s decision to marry her is absolute coming true. She is dangerous.
I wonder… is it just the stuff she knows about the family in her own lifetime (probably enough to bring the monarchy down)?
What about her ancestor, great-granny Alice Keppel? What was passed down about Alice’s experiences that the BRF would become apoplectic about if leaked?
Alice kepp el was never allowed by Edward to disrespect or badmouth his wife
Charles did not stop camlilla from trashing Diana
Alexandra after letting alice see Edward and after he died had Alexandra shown the door
Edit. Alexandra evicted alice after Edward died.
Arthur Edwards praises Camilla for not being a doormat and standing up to Charles. But he wanted Meghan to endure all the abuse and bullying so Harry could remain a full-time working royal in the UK so Arthur could continue photographing him and making money.
But that’s all these royal men want; every single successful royal marriage is made by a strong, independent thinking woman + a blue blooded male, which is why we can see that the Wales’ marriage is dysfunctional because Kate just doesn’t have it. So, kudos to Camilla because when it comes to standing up to the Firm, I root for whoever.
Camilla is the firm now she is the biggest manipulator
What ‘heavy load’ is she helping him with? What does he actually have to do?
All embiggening, all the time.
My tea was pipeing hot about Charlie’s health. (thanks Heather, see you Saturday) I would also say, look closely at Charlie’s pictures. The one of him meeting the commissioner from Jamaica today shows the hair loss at the back and (ahem) the crown!
Yes camzilla has perfected her art over the years. She is to cultivating useful allies what Alan Titchmarsh is to cultivating plants! Her fingers aren’t green though, they are Royal blue tipped in blood red.
Clever couriers who watched camzilla from day one, knew which way the wind was blowing and either got out quick or joined her in her war on everything Diana. The sons had to go if they didn’t bow down, their wives the same. Any staff or press officers that reported favourably on the sons were OUT likewise reporters at the nationals
She is like a slow release venom working it’s way through the Royals and the grey suits. Her face on the day of the coronation said it all, especially when she looked at Billy and bone. Now Charlie has always been weak and led around by his p…. By her, but now he is vulnerable and she will manipulate the whole shebang until she and her offspring are set for life. Some bank accounts will never be seen (same as some jewellery)
Yeah, I’ve wondered about the jewelry. If Kate makes it that far, will she find lots of empty boxes? And will anyone know what should have been there? Is there a QEll era inventory that was left as a historical document? Is Camilla entitled to take anything she wants that was privately owned?
I hope the Queen gave a few sentimental pieces to family members before Camilla got all of the keys.
There’s something very Wallis Simpson-ish about old Camzilla. The same manipulative, scheming way in which both ferreted out the weak spots in Edward VIII and Chuckles and took advantage of them to worm their way into the BRF. They both have the same talent at making their men dependent on them, and both men seem to have a big streak of childish self-obsession that Wallis and Cam cater to. Cam reminds me of a big old spider languishing in her web just waiting to capture a big, juicy bug.
Wallis didn’t want to marry Edward; he trapped her—similar to the way Charles trapped Camilla by outing her.
There was a report in one of the UK tabloids saying that Camilla will takeover/undertake about 6 of Charles’s upcoming grand engagements, which the Head of State normally do -like Trooping the Colours, Moundy Monday, Commonwealth Day service. So Willy is sidestepped, and he’s big mad about that (good for the incandescent, I don’t care). Normally a incapacitated monarch is represented by the heir in these grand rolls. So basically, Camilla will be doing
Queen Elizabeth II (Head of State) duties. She’ll have those victory laps in the history books too. Charly you fool, you’re being played big time by this woman.
hmmm, lots of emphasis on Williams anger over this, and rightfully so, but is it possible that Charles wanted Harry to do some of this stuff and Camzilla said no, “mine, mine, mine. all mine?”
I somehow do not think Camilla will be praised in history books.
Camilla could teach a Sidepiece Master Class. Have any other notable (notorious) mistresses had such success? Her “Diana problem” was solved. She has systematically messed with Diana’s sons’ heads and interfered in Harry’s in particular. She has secured her own estate and finances. Next up, likely titles for her children. And as another poster has suggested, will probably remarry the love of her life when Charles passes. And as queen, she has access to all the spoils and indulgences.
Pamela Churchill Hayward Harriman. What a piece of work!
Oh yeah, she wrote the book on marrying your way up the ladder to fame and fortune. Have you read “Life of the Party” by Christopher Ogden? It’s a great bio of her.
The ultimate irony is that Diana coined the phrase men in gray suits.
Camilla stands up to bullies. Well glad someone admitted the truth about the sycophants around that place. It was not Meghan who was the one behaving badly towards others in the palace. Of course they omit the fact that the biggest bully is Crocmilla herself. But it will all come out one day, if not in the wash then in the rinse.
“She’s no doormat – she stands up to him, she won’t be bullied.”
Yes, we know. It’s so much this that he imagined himself as her tampon.
“there are some pretty terrible rumors about the state of his health.” What are the rumours? Spill the tea, please 🫖
Beat in mind it’s possible that Camilla is having to ‘step up’ and head up these big forthcoming royal occasions. Having to, as in W is incapable of stepping up and heading up in Charles’s absence.
The reality may be that it’s Camilla who’s furious at W for not being up to fulfilling those duties. I’m not saying I’m right, but I do think it may be that way round.
Camilla bullied and gaslit Diana. She also openly mocked Meghan imitating Meghan holding her stomach. Camilla clearly manipulates charles.