The royal commentators are doing their best to pour sugar over Queen Elizabeth’s Accession Day/Jubbly statement. In the statement, Liz said that it is her sincere wish that, when the time comes, Camilla will be given the title of Queen Consort. A lot of people were like “well, of course that was always going to happen.” And it’s true, Charles has been planning to name Camilla his Queen Consort for years now, and he will do it almost immediately after his mother dies. But publicly, Charles has always maintained that no, Camilla will be named Princess Consort, a gaudy, make-believe title meant to placate the people who still love Diana. The fact that Charles put those words in his mother’s statement shows that he’s already in charge, the soft regency is already here, and that his plan continues unabated. Charles is clearly using his 95-year-old mother to legitimize his mistress-wife. So how will all of this go down long-term? Well, as I said, the royal commentators are trying to hype this sh-t. But a few people are saying “not so fast.”

The queen made this announcement unusually late (10pm) on Saturday night, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of her accession, most likely to minimize the chances of the Sunday newspapers having enough time to stir up trouble with contrary voices, on a day when criticizing the hard working monarch would be akin to treachery.

Indeed, all have fallen into line and are awash with positive takes on the big news. Even the usually republican-minded Daily Mirror approvingly carries commentary saying Camilla had “earned her spurs.”

But this is not necessarily going to be an easy sell for the palace in the long term. The “princess consort” device was invented for a reason, after all.

One of the most prescient royal commentators of recent years, Christopher Andersen, author of the new book Brothers and Wives told The Daily Beast: “Charles always intended that Camilla be his queen. Any promises to the contrary were just to pave the way for his marriage. What does surprise me is that the queen obviously succumbed to pressure and agreed to make this announcement now. I’d be amazed if it sits well with the British people.

“There still is tremendous affection for Diana and lingering resentment toward Camilla. Obviously the queen is just trying to prepare her subjects for the inevitable once Charles becomes king. But for the queen spend her political capital at this time and in this manner—when the family is mired in even more scandal than usual—seems patently unwise. As far as I’m concerned, this is just another in a long string of tone-deaf moves made by the royal family.”

[From The Daily Beast]

“…For the queen spend her political capital at this time and in this manner—when the family is mired in even more scandal than usual—seems patently unwise…” It also highlights the fact that the Queen never exhibited this kind of public support for, say, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, when they were being ripped to shreds on a daily basis. The Queen can go out of her way to express her wishes for Camilla’s future title, but the Queen can’t say one f–king word about the racism directed at her granddaughter-in-law? That being said, the fact that at least someone thinks this is “tone deaf” by the Queen shows that Liz probably did sign off on it. She’s always been tone-deaf. She’s never had good instincts for “how things look” or “what the British people will tolerate.”