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Original poster

That every one has forgotten they all hated Camilla?

281 replies

Binjob118 · 27/02/2023 22:15

I'm very puzzled why no one talks about how hated Camilla was the 80s/90s?? The tabloids absolutely tore her apart. But now she is 'Queen' and we have all conveniently forgotten. I have no personal interest in the royal family, I'm just perplexed.

OP posts:
ShippingNews · 28/02/2023 03:51

Addymontgomeryfan · 27/02/2023 22:16

The tabloids hated Camilla because they were painting Diana as a saint.

This is accurate. I was an adult then and I never felt negative towards her. The media loves to portray people as saints or sinners - they did a good job of painting Diana and Camilla that way.

Mothership4two · 28/02/2023 03:58

Binjob118 · 27/02/2023 22:15

I'm very puzzled why no one talks about how hated Camilla was the 80s/90s?? The tabloids absolutely tore her apart. But now she is 'Queen' and we have all conveniently forgotten. I have no personal interest in the royal family, I'm just perplexed.

Because the RF are good at managing the media and trying to convince the public that C&C were star-crossed lovers who should have been together from the start. There has been a lot of rehabilitation on both of their public images probably to counteract "Diana damage".

MarshaMelrose · 28/02/2023 04:03

@HedwigIsMyDemon All the original criticism was why she wasn't coming to London and why they were all still up in Scotland. Then the press brought up the flags because who of the public would know anything about that. You're right that she did bend to that and fly the flag and even bowed her head. So then, what's to criticise? She'd done what people wanted.

Opinions on them change so quickly. The week begore Diana's death she was quite unpopular, then after she died, she was almost beatified.

I have friends who were working in London and they said they were as good as harassed into going to lay flowers. They didn't want to but felt like had to because the atmosphere was so oppressive.

skilpadde · 28/02/2023 04:10

LovedmyRaleighChopper · 27/02/2023 23:56

I disliked her immensely for many years. My feelings are a lot more ambivalent now but I’m pretty certain I’d never curtsy to her should I ever meet her ( unlikely). We were told she would be titled Queen Consort and it annoys me every time I hear her referred to as the Queen. She’s dead. They’ve been very careful to keep a low profile, that’s definitely helped their rehabilitation.

Reading this makes me wonder if, after Queen Victoria's death, there were people who vehemently insisted that Queen Alexandra was not the queen.

Was that a thing? Or did people just think "Oh she's Edward VII's wife, so she's the queen"?

Camilla has quietly got on with doing royal duties for what, 2 decades now? Good PR may have helped, but most people surely realise that her public image in the 90s is wholly irrelevant in 2023.

Mothership4two · 28/02/2023 04:13

I think it was the lack of acknowledgement of the death at the time. The RF were initially like a black hole. There was also something about the Queen not wanting the Royal train to be used for the body as Diana was not royal but Charles overruling her - can't fully remember now. But that gave an insight into her feelings about it

MarshaMelrose · 28/02/2023 04:25

Mothership4two · 28/02/2023 04:13

I think it was the lack of acknowledgement of the death at the time. The RF were initially like a black hole. There was also something about the Queen not wanting the Royal train to be used for the body as Diana was not royal but Charles overruling her - can't fully remember now. But that gave an insight into her feelings about it

I think the Queen was done with Diana. She didn't appreciate the lying about the book nor the sneaky interview. She was all about protocol and Diana was no longer HRH.

Charles took the royal flight, brought her home with the royal standard and let her body lie at St James Palace.

The Queen got a bloody nose over it, had to climb down in the face of public opinion and did it with reasonable grace. The public were happy about that because they liked the Queen.

Mothership4two · 28/02/2023 04:26

There is a difference in them @skilpadde. Before Charles and Camilla's wedding it was announced that she would be known as Princess Consort not Queen when he became king. Probably due to negative public opinion. I remember a royal correspondent saying at the time that this was rubbish (not his exact words!) and of course she would be Queen.

AngeloMysterioso · 28/02/2023 04:29

Binjob118 · 27/02/2023 22:33

It's all very convenient for the establishment that the British people have amnesia

Nobody has amnesia. They just got over it.

Zebedee55 · 28/02/2023 04:38

The wife of a Monarch is a Queen. That's how it works.

I don't know anyone that hated Camilla, any more than I know anyone that thought Diana was a saint.

Most of all this was set up by the media and palace PR. I'm a Londoner and the confected and forced hysteria over Diana was nuts. It was oppressive.😗

I find it bizarre that people can "hate" someone or "love" someone that they have never met, don't know and will probably never know.

Its like W&K vs H&M - very few know what these people are like, away from the cameras, yet there are furious arguments about who is "good" and who is "bad"...🙄

skilpadde · 28/02/2023 04:43

Mothership4two · 28/02/2023 04:26

There is a difference in them @skilpadde. Before Charles and Camilla's wedding it was announced that she would be known as Princess Consort not Queen when he became king. Probably due to negative public opinion. I remember a royal correspondent saying at the time that this was rubbish (not his exact words!) and of course she would be Queen.

That's a fair point, and I guessing I'm forgetting the divorce / re-marrying aspect to it as well.

I do remember when C&C got married I had thought that, presuming the Queen had the same longevity genes as her mother, that Camilla would obviously end up as queen and not given some artificial title.

Mothership4two · 28/02/2023 04:44

"The public" are very divided about the Royal family to this day @skilpadde. But yes she had to do an about face pretty sharply. Her feelings about Diana are probably only known by those who were close to her.

I was no fan of Diana but felt afterwards that she was let down. She was only 19 when she became engaged. Basically she was a brood mare but it took her a few years to realise it IMO

torquewench · 28/02/2023 05:13

I never hated her.

I never particularly liked Diana though. Couldn't (and still cant) understand the tabloids' obsession with her.

GoodChat · 28/02/2023 05:47

@Iwantmyoldnameback nobody talks about them apart from when they force themselves into the limelight

Roselilly36 · 28/02/2023 05:48

It’s a generational thing I guess, my late MIL and friends that are older than me, dislike her due to the infidelity.

tuvamoodyson · 28/02/2023 05:48

I never hated her, I think she’s fab!

HedwigIsMyDemon · 28/02/2023 05:51

@MarshaMelrose she shouldn’t have needed to be told to show some respect. But then I never understood the love for the queen - I always thought she came across as a miserable cold cow. I think that’s one of the reasons her and her equally miserable son couldn’t bear Diana.

hippygirllucky · 28/02/2023 06:11

I was to young to really understand but even as a kid I remember knowing that Camilla was the evil step mother sort of character and Diana was Cinderella. I recently watched the Crown (I know, not factual but at least tries to follow the events of true life) and I feel awful for both Diana and Camilla. Charles sort of fannying around in the middle, not caring who he hurt. Diana for being young and misled and repeatedly taken advantage of but actually making the most of things in the end. Camilla just continuing on despite all the royal nonsense.

borntobequiet · 28/02/2023 06:20

Binjob118 · 27/02/2023 22:26

Mainly media yes. But also my parents generation, Camilla's age.

I, my siblings and many friends are of that generation and are pretty indifferent to/about her. We don’t read the newspapers that feature her frequently and we had no particular bias about Diana one way or the other, or indeed the Royal Family as an institution, being far more interested in politics.

YABU to say everyone.

Phos · 28/02/2023 06:23

I can’t say I ever hated her. But I wasn’t a fan of Diana either. The Queen has now been a senior royal for almost 18 years and frankly she hasn’t put a foot wrong. She’s been very dignified in the face of a lot of criticism, comes across very well in her public engagements - perhaps we should be glad people are big enough to let go of silly old grudges.

liveforsummer · 28/02/2023 06:33

I never hated Camilla- I had no real opinion of her and now I think she's ok. I do remember the press did but they did not form my opinion then or now. Why do you think people have forgotten?

knittingaddict · 28/02/2023 06:33

Hellocatshome · 27/02/2023 22:17

If it helps I have never hated her.

Neither did I.

safeplanet · 28/02/2023 06:35

that's what PR is for

Squirrelsnut · 28/02/2023 06:36

I don't care either way and never have. I worked 5 minutes from Pall Mall when Diana died and didn't even walk around the corner to see the flowers.
It's all a soap opera.

LlynTegid · 28/02/2023 07:00

I think time has influenced views and also I think Camilla herself by not being outspoken in public and perhaps because of the charities supported by her.

Original poster
Binjob118 · 28/02/2023 07:28

Thanks for all the replies. I'm a republican and find it very interesting how a nation can lie to itself about it's 'wonderful' non elected head of state. I remember all the tampon gate stuff. And now we are expected to think this guy is next to godly!! What a joke.

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