Thanks to Queen Camilla, King Charles has grown from a ‘confused’ young man into a monarch who is ‘comfortable’ in his own skin and who is like ‘the grandfather of the country’, experts tell PALACE CONFIDENTIAL just before his 75th birthday

King Charles has gone from a “confused young man” to the “nation’s grandfather” thanks to the love and support of his wife Camilla, a royal expert has claimed.

In a special episode of Palace Confidential to celebrate the monarch’s 75th birthday next month, Richard Kay shared how Charles is ‘very comfortable in his own skin’.

‘The Prince of Wales, as he then was, was a confused man.

‘He was constantly competing with his wife [Princess Diana] and unsure of himself, he was often criticized in public.

‘But the king he is today? He is much more comfortable in his own skin, largely thanks to his marriage to Queen Camilla.

Mr Kay also talked about how Charles was once seen as too politically outspoken but can now “look back with some satisfaction on the fact that many of the views he held 30 years ago are now very mainstream and enjoy broad public support.”

However, Charles’ first year as king was dominated by the ‘Harry, Meghan and Andrew’ issues.

‘I think this will continue. What’s interesting is what his response has been,” Mr Kay added.

“He has remained stoically silent and almost impervious to many statements and comments that have come out of California, and I think that will continue.”

‘I think he will become what he wants to become: the grandfather of the country.

“It was always going to be such a difficult act to follow after the Queen.”

Daily Mail editor-in-chief Rebecca English added that senior members of the royal staff have told him the king would be the “first to admit” he has made “mistakes in his personal life” in the past.

She added, “But should he be expected to pay for those mistakes for the rest of his time on earth? Time is a healer and people have come to accept the man he is.

‘Personally he is in a much happier place and that is filtering into his professional life.

King Charles and Queen-to-be Camilla have had a rollercoaster of a relationship since they first met at a polo match in Windsor Great Park in 1970.

After what appeared to be an extended bachelor period, then-Prince Charles married Princess Diana in 1981 in a televised ceremony watched by millions, while Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973.

After high-profile divorces and royal scandal, Charles and Camilla made their first public appearance together a year after Diana’s death and eventually married in 2005 in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall with just 28 guests.

During her 2022 Platinum Jubilee celebrations, Queen Elizabeth II announced that the then Duchess of Cornwall would become Queen Consort when Charles was King – a title she subsequently assumed following the late Queen’s death in September 2022.

Camilla’s public image has been transformed after she was initially cast as the ‘third’ person in the marriage of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Charles, before becoming a campaigning member of the monarchy prepared to serve the nation.

After Diana’s death in 1997, it took a while for the nation to warm up to the future queen, and when Camilla married Charles in 2005, the subject of her future title was a point of contention.

At the time, Palace executives said she would be known only as ‘Princess Consort’ – until Queen Elizabeth II ended years of uncertainty over the matter by assuring Camilla’s future status in a historic platinum anniversary declaration.

In her surprise announcement in February 2022, Her Majesty stated that it was her “sincere wish” that her daughter-in-law would be fully recognized once Charles became king.

And the first indication that the king’s long-cherished dream of having his wife crowned queen at his side would finally become a reality came in the wording of the coronation invitation itself: ‘The coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla. ‘

Officials last night released an image of the elaborately illustrated invitation that will be sent later this month to 2,000 guests who secured a coveted spot at Westminster Abbey on May 6.

Asked about the title – when the accompanying press release itself continued to refer to Camilla as The Queen Consort – a senior royal aide confirmed: ‘It was natural to refer to Her Majesty as The Queen Consort in the early months of His Majesty’s reign, to provide distinction of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

‘Queen Camilla is the appropriate title for King Charles on the invitation. The coronation is an appropriate time to start using “Queen Camilla” in an official capacity. All former Queen Consorts are known as Queen plus their first name.’

It’s a stark contrast to how Camilla was perceived in the early years of her and Charles’ relationship – with even the late Queen initially ‘wanting nothing to do with her’.

Just twelve months after the Paris crash that killed Princess Diana, Charles went to his mother, seeking approval and support for his relationship with Camilla and then Mrs. Parker Bowles.

It was not a happy meeting. As a senior royal confidante told The Daily Mail at the time: “The Queen told her son she never wanted to talk about that bad woman or have anything to do with her.”

However, the late monarch ultimately personally supported ‘Queen Camilla’ and accepted Charles’ former mistress as a respected member of the ‘Firm’.

Meanwhile, The Daily Mail was the first to reveal in December that the Palace planned to organically drop the word Consort from Camilla’s title this year.

This was confirmed by The Mail on Sunday in February, when it reported that she would be named queen after the coronation.

This change, once unthinkable, marks a remarkable transformation for Camilla in the nation’s affections.

When she married the then Prince of Wales in a civil ceremony in 2005 – which Queen Elizabeth refused to attend – it was announced that Camilla ‘intended’ to be known as Princess Consort when her husband took the throne.

The use of the word “intended” was intended to give royal aides leeway, but at the time many still blamed her for the failure of Charles’ marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales.

Since then, however, Camilla, 75, has won over many with her warmth, sense of humor, lack of complaining and her commitment to helping victims of domestic abuse, as well as promoting literacy.

A royal insider said last night: ‘His Majesty has always seen it as a matter of honour. He is king, so it follows that his wife must be queen. It’s like telling someone he or she isn’t known as Mrs. So-and-so.

“It is entirely up to them whether they choose to be called that, but it is still fundamentally their right to do so.”