Queen Camilla’s 79th birthday is coming up on July 17th. We’ll definitely get some “Keen Camilla” stories closer to her birthday, but the Times of London fast-tracked one of those pieces after Camilla happily posed with noted transphobe JK Rowling on the last day of Pride Month. The problem for Camilla is that after nearly three decades of careful and expensive image rehabilitation, people still hate her. She consistently has very low approval ratings and people still think that she’s nothing but a boozehound side-chick. Which means that when Camilla does something horrible or controversial – like posing for photos with JK Rowling – most people are like “yeah, sounds about right” and “gosh, we miss Diana, she was amazing and a true LGBTQ ally.” Well, someone in Camilla’s camp thinks that this whole controversy can be reframed as “Camilla is so bold and people should admire the strength it takes to pal around with bigots and racists.” I’m only barely paraphrasing this Times piece.

If a picture speaks a thousand words, the image of the Queen with the author JK Rowling last week spoke volumes about Camilla’s approach to her life and her role as consort. In Scotland with the King for engagements north of the border, Camilla, who is an ardent campaigner for the joy of reading, hosted the Harry Potter author for lunch at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. According to the official Buckingham Palace line: “Her Majesty and Ms Rowling discussed the importance of ensuring that young people have access to books and the vital part reading plays in opening doors for future generations.”

It was, of course, so much more than that. The Queen and her team knew that releasing an image of her and Rowling — whose views on gender issues have prompted many high-profile figures to denounce the author as “transphobic” — would be highly controversial, particularly with the meeting taking place during Pride Month. And so it proved.

The royal family’s social media platforms, which posted the image on Tuesday afternoon, attracted thousands of “likes” as well as comments. One described the post as “deplorable”. Another said: “In what world would anyone post this?”

The Queen, however, was not only willing but determined to take on the risk and the criticism she knew would come with it, in a major show of support for Rowling. Before the meeting, courtiers deliberated whether to try to keep the meeting private, but an aide says that “fundamentally it was felt that being open was the right thing to do”.

A royal source says: “These kind of decisions are not taken lightly or carelessly, but in a determination to do what she feels is right. There are always risk-free ways of living her life but she doesn’t wish to live risk-free. The safest thing is not to make a judgment on things. She feels that risks her principles. She would prefer to be brave than safe.”

Books and championing literacy were “officially” the talking points for the Queen, 78, and Rowling, 60, over lunch, but behind the scenes it is understood the pair also discussed their support for victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Rowling herself is a survivor who funds Beira’s Place, a refuge and support centre in Edinburgh for victims of assault. Last year, Camilla revealed she was the victim of an attempted sexual assault by a man who tried to grope her on a train when she was a teenager.

[From The Times]

It might surprise both Camilla and Jo Rowling that people can have sympathy for victims of sexual violence AND simultaneously have nothing but disgust for Camilla and Rowling for their horrible behavior overall. As for this…“These kind of decisions are not taken lightly or carelessly, but in a determination to do what she feels is right…” Okay, good to know. Camilla made the conscious decision to platform a woman who has spent the past six-plus years being a transphobic bully who harasses any and every trans-ally and who has spent time and money promoting transphobia culturally and legislatively. All because Camilla AGREES with Rowling. Because Camilla thinks Rowling is “right.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images and Buckingham Palace’s social media.