Ever since that kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, Prince Charles has been yoked to Diana, Princess of Wales and her memory. Until yesterday.

After his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles, a fresh chapter has opened for the prince and the monarchy. The marriage of two divorcees in the face of doubts by the Queen, the church and many others marks a new milestone in the royal family’s attempts to reconcile public duties with private lives. But it comes at a price.

Most polls indicate that while the bulk of the British people are content for Charles and Camilla to marry, a substantial majority are uneasy about the prospect of a Queen Camilla. What will be her influence? What does she bring to the party? She would admit that she is no style icon; indeed, the late princess is likely to haunt Camilla’s every step and misstep. Every new dress she wears, every hairstyle will draw comparisons with Diana.

As for charity work, a well known blonde has already been there, done that. Camilla’s unsung role as president of the National Osteoporosis Society will not compare.

Nor is Camilla’s attitude to public appearances auspicious. One of the few things that she and Diana could ever agree on was their fear of public speaking. While Diana overcame hers to project the image of a humanitarian ambassador, Camilla is physically ill at the very thought of standing in front of an audience.

There is little chance of her ever being interviewed; Camilla has already turned down everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Trevor McDonald. She knows that if she sat down in front of the cameras she would have to answer difficult questions about Diana.

While Camilla is constrained by the immediate past, she and her advisers can learn from the last time that the royals reinvented themselves, a process spearheaded by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Apart from a brief anodyne chat with the Yorkshire Post in 1923, the Queen Mother never gave a proper interview during her long royal career. But she managed to turn her silence into a merit.

Indeed, it is revealing to look at Camilla’s similarities to the Queen Mother. When Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was Duchess of York, she was sneered at by Wallis Simpson, the lover of Edward, then Prince of Wales, for her dowdy clothes and homely style.

As a term of derision she was known as “cookie” or the Scottish cook. The parallels with Camilla, who has been lampooned for her style are inescapable.

Yet the unglamorous lifestyle and devotion of the Yorks became virtues when George VI succeeded his elder brother. It was the new queen who was by his side to calm his nerves when he made his first radio broadcast and who supported him during public speeches and visits. Prone to rage and depression — and throwing books and other objects at servants — George VI could often be soothed only by her.

It all sounds strangely familiar. “Your greatest achievement is to love me,” Charles told Camilla in the now notorious tape recording of their intimate late night conversation. Gloomy, grumpy and melancholic — and equally prone to throwing things at royal staff — Charles needs Camilla to coax him out of his bouts of despair.

“Her friends believe she will be good for the monarchy because she is good for him,” said Tom Bradby, the royal correspondent who interviewed her circle for an ITV documentary about the future queen.

There are other parallels, too. Just as the Queen Mother used her children to renew affection for the institution of monarchy after the abdication, so Camilla needs Princes William and Harry to establish respect for her own position — and ultimately that of the crown. An informal photo call with the boys, for example, or the first Christmas card as a foursome will help to cement Camilla into the royal fabric. The princes seem to recognise the need for change: indeed, William’s deft handling of the media at the recent skiing photo call was revealing.

Not only did he display his mother’s media savvy — he made wry if bland comments about not losing the ring at the wedding — but by his actions he valiantly tried to steer his father away from further trouble.

“He showed himself to be much more sophisticated with the media than his father,” noted one observer.

William recognises Camilla’s role in making Charles happy. While it would be absurd to suggest that the young princes welcome Camilla with open arms — after all, she was the cause of so much of their mother’s unhappiness — they have reached an accommodation with her.

When Camilla returns from her honeymoon in Scotland to Clarence House, former home of the Queen Mother, there is one final lesson that she should absorb. Simply stick around. Half the trick of royalty is becoming part of the furniture, from figure of fun or hate to national treasure. Who knows, one day historians may remember Prince Charles for Camilla rather than for Diana.

Andrew Morton is the author of Diana, Her True Story

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