The Queen Once Referred to Camilla As ‘That Wicked Woman,’ Book Says

• Royal expert Katie Nicholl said Queen Elizabeth II once referred to Camilla as “that wicked woman.”
• For years, the Queen refused to sanction Camilla and Charles’ relationship after their affair. 
• But Nicholl said Elizabeth eventually warmed to Camilla, naming her as the next Queen Consort.

Seven months before her death, Queen Elizabeth II shocked many when she announced that Camilla, the then-Duchess of Cornwall, would be known as Queen Consort when Charles ascended the throne. 

It was a major shift from the monarchy’s original plans. In 2005, Buckingham Palace announced that Camilla would become Princess Consort, not queen. But royal experts told Insider the surprising decision was Queen Elizabeth’s way of bolstering support for Camilla. 

However, Camilla and Elizabeth’s relationship wasn’t always so strong, according to royal expert Katie Nicholl. 

In her book “The New Royals,” which was released in October, Nicholl speaks to British historian Robert Lacey about the Queen’s feelings toward Camilla in the 1990s. 

“In 1998, when Charles was trying to persuade his mother to be more accommodating of Camilla, the Queen described her as ‘that wicked woman,'” Lacey said. “Those damning words were reported in distress by Prince Charles himself.” 

The history of Charles and Camilla’s love up to that point was already long, scandalous, and complicated. They had started as young lovers in their 20s in 1970 and were…