The Duchess of Cornwall is no stranger to giving speeches, but that doesn’t mean they don’t scare her. Camilla spoke about fearing one part of her royal work in an interview for her upcoming 75th birthday. “I get petrified making speeches,” she confessed to The Australian Women’s Weekly .
Camilla joined the British royal family in 2005 when she married Queen Elizabeth ’s eldest child, Prince Charles. Speaking to the magazine, the Duchess of Cornwall admitted that her father-in-law, Prince Philip, who passed away in 2021, was a role model to her.
© Getty Images“The Duke of Edinburgh was always a very good ear. He was a role model to me and a very good person to take advice from because he always told me what he thought,” Camilla shared.
According to PEOPLE , the Duchess of Cornwall also praised the late Duke of Edinburgh for his example of how to be a consort and support the monarch. “I learned that your place is several feet behind the monarch,” she is quoted as saying. “You’re there as a back-up.”
Queen Elizabeth, 96, revealed earlier this year that it is her “sincere wish” that her daughter-in-law Camilla be “known as Queen Consort” when Charles becomes King. In a message shared on the eve of the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne, the monarch said, “This anniversary also affords me a time to reflect on the goodwill shown to me by people of all nationalities, faiths and ages in this country and around the world over these years. I would like to express my thanks to you all for your support. I remain eternally grateful for, and humbled by, the loyalty and affection that you continue to give me.”
Queen Elizabeth added, “And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service.”
