Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on Future Queen Consort Role: 'You're There as a Back-Up'
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Photos copyright The Duchess of Cambridge Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is opening up about her future role as Queen Consort.
Earlier this year, Queen Elizabeth shared her "sincere wish" that Camilla will become Queen Consort when Prince Charles accedes to the throne one day. The announcement was especially poignant as it's the role the monarch's late husband Prince Philip had.
In a new interview with The Australian Women's Weekly in honor of her upcoming 75th birthday on July 17, Camilla praised her late father-in-law Prince Philip for the example he showed about how to be a consort and support the monarch and recognized that it must have been difficult for the "macho" naval commander to take a step back.
"I learned that your place is several feet behind the monarch," Camilla, 74, adds. "You're there as a back-up."
Photos copyright The Duchess of Cambridge Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
The royal also opened up about her role as grandmother. She has five grandchildren from her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles.
"The girls are becoming teenagers, which is a bit of a worry. I'd quite like to put a lid on their heads and make them small again because they're all sweet and scrubbed and nice. Now they're quite keen to have a good argument!' says Camilla, who has two children from her previous marriage — Laura Lopes and Tom Parker Bowles.
"They're just fun to be with," she adds. "I love being with them, eating together, going to see a film or a play. They're great enthusiasts. And it's always nice to be in touch with that generation because it keeps you abreast of young people's feelings and ideas."
Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
In the interview with the magazine, which also features a cover shot photographed by Kate Middleton, Camilla also highlights one of her key causes — the benefits of exercise in helping to keep joints and bones strong.
Camilla, who champions the fight against osteoporosis, takes part in Silver Swans, a dance class for those over 55. The royal's mother died from the condition in 1994 at the age of 72. Camilla has since worked to raise awareness about osteoporosis and is an ambassador of the Royal Osteoporosis Society.
A teacher sometimes comes to Clarence House, the home Camilla shares with Charles in London, to hold sessions, she told the magazine.
"We crash about very happily and it's great fun. It's jolly hard work — you get really involved and I find it's a really good way to exercise," she said of the dance class.
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Dominic Lipinski-WPA Pool/Getty Images Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles
But she hasn't managed to rope her husband into the sessions yet, she told Juliet Rieden of The Australian Women's Weekly.
"He's a very good dancer and loves ballet, but I'm not sure how good he'd be on his tippy-toes," Camilla says.
What he can assist her with is another important job: speech giving — something Camilla says she has struggled with since beginning her public life shortly before she wed Charles in 2005.
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Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth
The royal says she was so "petrified" the night before she was due to give her first speech at an international conference on osteoporosis.
"I was out of bed tying my sheets together to see if I could escape and go home. I'm never going to enjoy it," she shares.
"My husband is very good; he loves it. Because he's a very good actor, I think. You've got to have a bit of acting experience," she tells the magazine. "I was the worst actor in the whole school. If I was given one line to say, it always came out backwards. So I think speeches — no, they're never going to be my favorite things."
