Queen of his heart CHARLES' SECRET DECLARATION OF LOVE

With monarchy cutbacks on the horizon and Prince Harry about to publish a memoir, the Prince of Wales is taking a huge risk with his ambitious plans for Camilla

- Prince Harry

Prince Charles was once dissuaded from choosing Camilla Parker Bowles when, as a pair of starry-eyed 20-somethings, they first fell head-over-heels in love. It’s not a mistake he’s prepared to make twice.

Three months after his father, Prince Philip, was laid to rest, Charles has made it clear behind the scenes that Camilla will be crowned Queen Consort on the day he takes the throne.

With his father gone and his beloved mother Queen Elizabeth II recently celebrating her 95th birthday, palace insiders say there’s no doubt the heir to the British throne is intensifying his preparations to step into the job he has been training for his entire life.

And, at 72, he knows his mind much more than he did as a 21-year-old when he first laid eyes on Camilla – the daughter of an army officer – and lost his heart.

“No one can persuade Charles otherwise on this,” says a well-placed palace source. “He is absolutely unmovable on his bold plan for Camilla to be Queen.”

It’s a controversial move for Charles, who has obediently followed royal protocol all his life. When he married Camilla in 2005, he was so mindful of the fact she was blamed for the break-up of his marriage to Princess Diana that it was announced to the public she would never be queen.

Instead, the royal position has been that the divorcée and mother-of-two would become Princess Consort when her husband ascended the throne – a title never before used in Britain and one that would afford far less status than a Queen consort.