Buckingham Palace Confirms Coronation Roles for Royal Grandchildren and Officially Refers to Camilla as “Queen” for First Time

Reuters | April 5th, 2023

In a newly-released official portrait, King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, pose for a photo in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace. King Charles III’s wife has been officially identified as Queen Camilla for the first time, with the Palace using the title on invitations for the monarch’s May 6 coronation. Photo: Hugo Burnand/Buckingham Palace via AP/Canadian Press

King Charles’s grandson Prince George and the grandchildren of the Queen Consort Camilla will play major roles in the coronation of the British monarch next month, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Tuesday.

George, nine, the eldest son of heir to the throne Prince William, will be one of the King’s four pages of honour who will accompany him at the grand ceremony on May 6, and join the procession through the nave of London’s Westminster Abbey.

“We’re all very excited about Prince George’s role in the coronation, it will be an incredibly special moment,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said.

Camilla’s four pages will be made up of her grandchildren Freddy Parker Bowles, and Gus and Louis Lopes, as well as her great-nephew Arthur Elliot.

British newspapers had previously reported that the Queen Consort wanted her grandchildren to play significant roles, even though their parents are the children from her marriage to her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.

The announcement comes as the Palace also released details of the invitation to “The Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III & Queen Camilla” which will be sent out to the more than 2,000 coronation guests, along with a new photograph of the couple.

The invitation for the Coronation of Britain’s King Charles III is seen in this undated handout image obtained by Reuters April 4, 2023. Photo: Buckingham Palace/Handout via Reuters.

The description on the invitation is the first time that Charles’s second wife has been officially referred to as “Queen Camilla.”

Her status was only made clear in February last year when the late Queen Elizabeth II said on the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne that she wanted Camilla to be known as Queen Consort when Charles became King.

The Palace also said the invitation’s artwork, designed by heraldic artist Andrew Jamieson, was handpainted in watercolour and gouache, and features a motif of the Green Man — an ancient figure from British folklore.

Flowers on the invitation, which will be made from recycled card, will appear in groupings of three — a nod to the King being the third monarch to be called Charles — and it will also feature a lion, a unicorn and a boar, taken from the royal couple’s coats of arms.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by William James and Christina Fincher)

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