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KEY POINTS
- Queen Camilla’s first tour with King Charles was in the United States
- Camilla reportedly received a peach from someone during the tour and ate it
- Arthur Edwards said Camilla never lost the common touch
Queen Camilla brought positive changes to King Charles, according to a royal photographer.
Arthur Edwards, who served as a royal photographer for The Sun for 45 years, got candid about King Charles and Queen Camilla. He opened up about the joy he witnessed when King Charles was with his second wife.
Edwards remembered sticking with King Charles after Princess Diana’s death. He acknowledged that the late Princess of Wales changed the royal family forever, but things didn’t end with her when she passed away. Life went on for King Charles. However, not everyone was by his side following reports of his affair with Camilla.
“I was often only the one person on the plane going out there with him. Like Nigeria or Saudi Arabia. People wasn’t (sic) bothering. They thought, ‘Diana’s gone, that’s it, over.’ But it wasn’t over because he was doing some amazing work. And I was getting really good pictures,” Edwards told People.
When Camilla stepped into the royal spotlight around 2004, years after Princess Diana’s death, Edwards acknowledged that she brought a fresh new energy.
“Our first tour was the United States, and I remember going to a market north of Los Angeles, and someone gave her a peach or something, and she started to eat it, which no royal would do! But she did. She really enjoyed it,” Edwards recalled. “And I remember saying, ‘Diana would never do that.’ But she was different. And she brought a whole new meaning [to] Prince Charles. He’s now a much happier person. He’s contented. And he always refers to her as ‘my darling wife.'”
In his new photo book “Behind the Crown: My Life Photographing the Royal Family,” he wrote about Camilla’s “wonderful sense of fun” and how she “has brought a spring to Charles’ step.”
“The thing about Camilla, which is I think her strongest point, [is] she never lost the common touch, and she makes him laugh. I’ve got pictures of them in the book just laughing together,” Edwards said. “She’s just always there to support him, and that’s her way,” he added, explaining that this made her a “great asset” to the nation.
King Charles and Queen Camilla tied the knot on April 9, 2005. Last year, Queen Elizabeth acknowledged Camilla as a great partner to her son and heir. She announced in a message marking the 70th anniversary of her reign her “sincere wish” that Camilla be known as “queen consort” when Charles takes over the throne.
“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,” the Queen wrote.
