Camilla: ‘It will be a great honour to become Queen Consort’

The Queen approved the Duchess of Cornwall’s title in her Platinum Jubilee statement

The Duchess of Cornwall has said it will be a “great honour” to become Queen Consort, when her husband, the Prince of Wales, becomes King.

Camilla sees it as an opportunity to continue her work with victims of domestic violence, which she intends to do “for a lifetime”.

Speaking to BBC Woman’s Hour presenter Emma Barnett about her work, she said she would not “give up mid-channel” and is passionate about highlighting the causes she supports.

The Duchess was reunited with Diana Parkers, whose daughter Joanna Simpson was killed by her husband in 2010, when undertaking the joint interview for the Radio 4 programme and BBC Breakfast.

She has previously cited Ms Parkes as the inspiration behind her work with domestic abuse victims, according to the BBC.

Camilla said: “Of course it’s a great honour (becoming Queen Consort), it couldn’t be anything else. But it does help it.

“I’m going to keep up with these causes. You know if I start something like this, I’m not going to give up mid-channel, I’m just going to keep going to try and help the likes of people like Diana...I hope I should be doing it for a lifetime.”

She went on to call for more action to tackle violence against women, which she has long advocated for.

“We do need to help culture change. And I think we have to start at the beginning, I think children at school have got to be taught respect,” the Duchess said.

“We have got to go back to the beginnings and...just build up this idea that you have to have respect for human beings, it’s lack of respect.

“It’s treating women like chattels and people thinking they can get away with it. I’m sure a lot of people do it and think that there’s nothing wrong.

“I don’t think (the issue of abuse has) got any better. I think the lockdown was terrible because people actually couldn’t escape. And you see the numbers have gone up.

“But on the other hand, I think it’s drawn a lot of people’s attention to it. I think it’s talked about much more now.”

Previously, the 74-year-old called for more action to be taken to prevent violence against women, specifically recalling the recent killings of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa.

The Duchess added that she hoped the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which will be commemorated with a long weekend of festivities in June to mark 70 years on the throne, will be an opportunity for people to “all get together and celebrate”.

She said: “It’s always lovely to have something happy to look forward to, isn’t it? I mean, we’ve all been through hard times. We’ve all been locked away from our family and friends. And now we could all get together again and celebrate.”

When the Queen marked her 70th year on the throne earlier this month, Her Majesty issue her royal seal of approval for the Duchess to use the title of Queen, adding that it was her “sincere wish” that Camilla should be known as Queen Consort when the time came.

Camilla recently caught Covid for the first time, with Clarence House confirming on February 14 she had tested positive - but the interview was conducted before she had contracted the virus.

Additional reporting by PA