Queen Consort pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

Camilla, Queen Consort, paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II in a televised address on Sunday evening, during which she praised her late mother-in-law’s historic legacy.

“She has been a part of our lives forever,” Camilla said. “I’m 75 now and I can’t remember anybody except the Queen being there. It must have been so difficult for her being a solitary woman.”

Camilla pointed out that in the earlier decades of Elizabeth’s tenure as the Queen, there were no other political leaders who were women.

“There weren’t women prime ministers and women presidents,” she said. “I think she carved her own role.”

Aside from the Queen’s prominence as a royal leader, Camilla remembers the way her blue eyes “lit up her whole face” when she smiled.

“That smile is unforgettable,” she said.

CTV News Royal commentator Afua Hagan spoke to CTV News Channel Sunday about the relationship between Camilla and Queen Elizabeth, which she said was complicated in early years by the fact that Camilla was King Charles III’s second wife.

“It took a while for the Queen to get her head around that,” Hagan said.

“The Queen gave [Camilla] her blessing just before the [recent] jubilee, saying she wants Camilla to be known as the Queen Consort. And that was the ultimate seal of approval.”