What began with a big scandal ends peacefully: on her 75th birthday, Duchess Camilla chats about her life with Prince Charles, which they enjoy reading together. And she's treating herself to a British Vogue photoshoot in her own clothes.
Duchess Camilla celebrates her 75th birthday on July 17th. For this special occasion, she can be seen in the July issue of British "Vogue". The magazine has published its first photos on Instagram and on its website. In one of the pictures, Prince Charles' wife sits in a chair with glasses and holds a book on her lap, in a second black and white picture the 74-year-old shines in the garden surrounded by plants.
A third shows her, also with a beaming smile, in a long, elegant robe of blue. Photographer Jamie Hawkesworth took the pictures at Clarence House, where Camilla and Charles live, according to Vogue. The outfits all come from the Duchess herself. Matching the pictures in her usual surroundings, the Duchess gives private insights into her life alongside Prince Charles in an interview with the magazine. "Sometimes it's not easy, but we always try to have a point in the day that we meet," she explains to Giles Hattersley.
The couple sit down and have a cup of tea to discuss the day. Afterwards it is all the nicer "that we actually sit in different corners of the same room and read our books. It is very relaxing because we know that there is no lack of conversation. You just sit together and are together".
In the interview, in addition to her social commitment, the Duchess also talks about her online book club "The Duchess of Cornwall's Reading Room", in which she recommends books and which has built up a considerable community on Instagram. "I didn't really know what Instagram was. I didn't even know where to find it or how to get there," she says. "We fought a lot to get it working and to my amazement it worked. The wonderful thing is that it went around the world and now I get letters from Papua New Guinea or Chile. It's a real community."
Camilla also reveals her thoughts on her upcoming birthday. "My mom died when she was 72, so I survived my mom, which is pretty weird. Who wants to be 75," she added. "When you get to a big number, whether it's 30, 50, 70, you think, 'God, that's so old.'" Her birthdays meanwhile let her come and go. On her 75th, "not much is celebrated," she says. "I will spend the day with my family and some friends."
On the occasion of her day of honor, the Duchess also looks back on the ups and downs in the royal family. It wasn't easy for her to shake off her reputation as Prince Charles' former lover and gain public acceptance over the years. "I've been under scrutiny for so long you just have to find a way to live with it. Nobody likes to be looked at and criticized all the time. But in the end I kind of get over it and move on. You have to deal with that carry on life."
