Camilla Will Help Charles Define The Style Of His Reign

The Queen's character may be the key to the King reordering and modernising the royal family, writes Sean O'Grady

- Sean O'Grady

If we want to know exactly what kind of a relationship Charles and Camilla have, and what kind of a Consort she will prove to be, then we have to look no further than a revisit of the less salacious parts of the famous "Camillagate" tapes.

This was a private and intimate phone conversation between the pair that took place in 1989, apparently recorded illicitly by a radio ham (or the security services) and leaked to the Daily Mirror, which published a transcript in 1993. At the time of the conversation, they were both married, and the public exposure of their exchanges marked a low point for the pair and for the monarchy.

Sniggered at by the entire nation, what seems more significant now - nearly 30 years later is the plain, uncomplicated, compelling romantic love that existed between them. In many ways the Camillagate tapes are the key to understanding what went wrong for them both during those years, and what has gone right in more recent times.

Thus, as reported in Tom Bower's book, Rebel Prince, Camilla told her lover: "My role in life is to support you and love you" words that serve as a kind of early job description for her current position. In his turn Charles told her, well after his marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales, had collapsed that "I need you several times a week". Charles goes on: "You suffer all these indignities and tortures and calumnies," to which Camilla replies: "Oh darling, don't be so silly. I'd suffer anything for you. That's love.

It's the strength of love." The very fact that the conversation was believed by them to be secret adds immeasurably to its value as a historical artefact. The love was real, and Camilla wasn't some sort of cynical turbocharged social climber.