UK News 24-03-2005 Republican Revolt Over Queen Camilla who: Camilla Parker Bowles what: Will be Queen when Prince Charles ascends to the throne, says Department for Constitutional Affairs where: LONDON when: Monday snippet: "The confusion triggered by the Prince of Wales`s marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles could precipitate a new wave of republicanism across Britain`s former colonies and jeopardise the future monarch`s chances of becoming head of the Commonwealth," reckons The Times after Joel Kibazo, spokesman for the Commonwealth Secretariat, revealed that "one or two" Commonwealth members "want out". It was confirmed by the Department for Constitutional Affairs on Monday that Mrs Parker Bowles "will become Queen unless Parliament legislates to strip her of the right to the title," explained The Times. But in response, Prince Charles`s spokesman Paddy Harverson reiterated that the future monarch`s wife is to be known only as Princess Consort. "Mrs Parker Bowles`s wishes have been made clear from the start," he says, quoted in The Sun. "She does not wish to take the title of Queen and the prince is in full agreemet." The Mirror`s Sue Carroll reckons "we`ve been duped" and the whole Princess Consort ruse was "a strategy invented by the grovelling sycophants at Clarence House" to keep the Prince`s critics at bay. "Eventually, The Prince of Wales reasoned, we`d come round to accepting Queen Camilla and dutifully pay homage," says Carroll. "Quite why he believed this is a mystery. His bride has done zilch towards commanding public respect and is more or less universally regarded as a woman who took her happiness at the price of her predecessor Diana`s pain." Ultimately, the article in Thursday`s Times concedes that any damage done to the Commonwealth by the marriage is likely to come from nations with existing republican leanings. Australian`s Republican Movement "has recorded a steep rise in membership in recent weeks after a lacklustre royal visit by the Prince and the doubts raised by his marriage," says the report, while New Zealand, Jamaica and Barbados have all signalled steps towards independence from the Crown long before now. Apparently the loyalties of Canada, St Kitts and Nevis, the Bahamas and Belize are not in doubt. [... more]

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