Why Queen Camilla Officially Dropped Her Consort Title After King Charles III’s Coronation

Here's the royal tea on Queen Camilla's title upgrade.  

Just ahead of her and King Charles III's May 6 coronation, Camilla officially dropped Consort from her title, with the royal family's website recognizing her as simply the Queen. The formal shift comes just a few weeks after Buckingham Palace released the coronation invitation, in which the former Duchess of Cornwall was first referred to as Queen Camilla—sans Consort.

"It's not that abnormal," royal expert Sharon Carpenter explained to E! News of the royal's decision to switch up her Queen Consort label post-coronation. "It is actually something that really does align with royal protocol."

However, Sharon acknowledges this wasn't the initial plan when Charles and Camilla first wed, with public sentiment not exactly favorable toward the mom of two, viewed as the other woman in the monarch's marriage to Princess Diana.

"We've sort of seen this royal upgrade of Camilla over the years," she continued. "Because originally when she married King Charles she became the Duchess of Cornwall. She didn't take the Princess of Wales title, because obviously the public would have been very upset. Diana was known as the Princess of Wales."

While royal watchers warmed to the idea of crowning Camilla as princess, Queen Elizabeth II had an upgrade of her own in mind.

"Before she passed away last year, she said it's her dearest wish for Camilla to be queen consort when Charles becomes king," Sharon said. "And I think this is something the public is getting used to."

The coronation service comes 18 years after King Charles and Camilla married in 2005 following the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Over the years, Charles' own sons—Prince William and Prince Harry—have shifted their views about their step-mother as well.

"As Harry mentioned in his book, in Spare, she was really vilified for a long time because of her involvement with Charles while he was married to Princess Diana." Sharon told E!. "But they've warmed up to her over the years. She's just sort of put her head down and gotten on with it since she married Charles in 2005."

As for the new Queen's role among the people of England? As Sharon put it, she has been "doing a lot of work for causes that are important to women, literacy causes and those sorts of things. She's very practical. She's very down to earth."

Sharon added that not only does Camilla help the public, but she has had a positive effect inside her home. "She's warm, and she has a good effect on her husband as well," she revealed. "Sort of this calming spirit when she's around him and they look like they're having a really good time when they're out together."

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