Camilla's transformation from the most-hated person in the UK to the queen is complete

• King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, have known each other since 1970.
• After decades of secret affairs and scandals, they got married in 2005.

On May 6, all eyes will be on King Charles III. But for a moment, the woman beside him, Camilla, will shine. Within the halls of Westminster Abbey, a glittering crown will be placed on top of her head, and she will henceforth be Queen Camilla.

It's a scene few would have predicted decades ago when Camilla was known to the British public as Charles' mistress — the other woman Princess Diana was referring to when she famously said there were "three of us in this marriage" during her bombshell 1995 "Panorama" interview.

Even when Camilla finally married Charles in 2005, Queen Elizabeth II announced that her new daughter-in-law would be known as "Princess Consort" when Charles ascended the throne. Later, months before Elizabeth's death in 2022, she announced that Camilla would be "Queen Consort" when the time came.

But soon Camilla will simply be known as queen, and royal experts told Insider she played her cards perfectly to get to this moment.

From friend to lover

Charles and Camilla first met in 1970, when he was 22 and she was 24. A mutual friend introduced them, and they hit it off immediately.

Camilla introduced herself to the future king with the line: "My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common," according to The Washington Post.

Marlene Koenig, a royal expert who wrote about Charles and Camilla's relationship for BBC's History Extra, told Insider that the pair were instantly attracted to each other. They bonded over a mutual love of horses and hunting and had frequent late-night talks over the phone. Charles even wrote Camilla "elaborately-worded love notes."

But their relationship was doomed from the start. At the time, it was unheard of for a senior royal — much less the future king — to marry a woman who was no longer a virgin.

"Camilla had a history, and you didn't want a past that hung about," Patricia Knatchbull, Charles' godmother, told the royal biographer Gyles Brandreth, who wrote the 2007 book "Charles & Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair."

Charles left England to serve in the Royal Navy after they had one last weekend together in December 1972. Months later, Camilla was engaged to Andrew Parker Bowles, whom she'd been dating on and off since she was 17.

From lover to mistress

Koenig told Insider that Charles and Camilla began their first affair in 1979, shortly after the Irish Republican Army assassinated his great-uncle Louis Mountbatten.

"Camilla was the only person to whom he could talk about anything," Koenig wrote in the History Extra article. "She was his best friend, his soulmate, and, after the death of his great-uncle, lover."

The affair came to an end in 1981, after Charles and Diana announced their engagement. They got married that July in what became known as the "wedding of the century," but the whirlwind romance didn't last long. The new Princess of Wales discovered love letters between Charles and Camilla on their honeymoon, as well as cuff links with two intertwined C's that Camilla had given the prince.

Diana later recalled the moment to Andrew Morton for the biography "Diana: Her True Story — In Her Own Words."

"Boy, did we have a row," Diana said. "Jealousy, total jealousy — and it's such a good idea the two C's, but it wasn't that clever in some ways."

By 1986, Diana and Charles' marriage had collapsed. That same year, in a letter that was later published in Jonathan Dimbleby's authorized biography of the future king, Charles wrote that he felt as if he were "in a kind of cage ... longing to be free."

"How awful incompatibility is, and how dreadfully destructive it can be for the players in this extraordinary drama," Charles wrote. "It has all the ingredients of a Greek tragedy. I never thought it would end up like this."

According to Koenig, two of Charles and Camilla's mutual friends independently urged her to reach out to him around this time. Their friendship soon rekindled, as did their affair.

Charles and Camilla's relationship became public knowledge in June 1992 after Morton's bombshell biography of Diana hit shelves. Six months later, Diana and Charles officially separated. Charles' dalliances with Camilla were no longer off-limits to the UK press.

Conversations between Charles and Camilla that had been taped in 1989 and leaked to the press were published in 1993. They included the infamous moment when the prince told his mistress that he wanted to be her tampon. Known as "Camillagate," the tapes were a humiliating moment for the royal family — and turned Camilla into the British tabloids' newest villain.

"It's actually almost inconceivable how much abuse Camilla took," Tina Brown, the author of "The Palace Papers," told The Washington Post in April 2022. "She was called 'hag,' 'old bag,' 'witch.' These were the kind of words that were used about Camilla for years."

Camilla and her husband got a divorce in 1995. Charles and Diana followed a year later.

From mistress to 'that wicked woman'

As scandal followed the royal family through the '90s, Queen Elizabeth II was no fan of Camilla.

In her book "The New Royals," Katie Nicholl said the Queen "would not have Camilla's name uttered in her presence." Robert Lacey, a British historian, also told Nicholl that the Queen referred to Camilla as "that wicked woman" when Charles tried to persuade his mother to be more accommodating to his mistress turned girlfriend.

But Charles was undeterred. In 1996, after his divorce became official, Nicholl said Charles began putting plans in place to legitimize his and Camilla's relationship in the eyes of the public. He hired Mark Bolland for "Operation Mrs. PB," as it was called, and the public-relations expert told Nicholl about his initial strategy.

"At this stage, there was absolutely no talk of marriage or Camilla being queen," Bolland said. "It was more: 'Can we actually just spend some more time together? Can we go to the theater together and not live in fear of terrible headlines?'"

Charles threw Camilla a lavish 50th birthday party in July 1997. A month later, Diana died in a tragic car crash in Paris. All plans to make their relationship more public immediately came to a halt.

From 'that wicked woman' to 'the woman he loves'

Charles and Camilla wouldn't make another public appearance together until 1999, when they attended the 50th birthday party of Camilla's sister at the Ritz Hotel in London.

"It was a carefully choreographed and well-planned event by Bolland, who was now Charles' deputy private secretary," Koenig told Insider.

Photos of the couple together were plastered on the front pages of the biggest British papers the following morning. "At Last," one headline read.

Months later, Charles and Camilla took their children on a joint trip to Greece. By 2003, they had moved in together.

As the couple became more and more public, things slowly started to change between Camilla and the Queen.

The Queen had skipped Charles' 50th birthday in 1998, where Camilla was the guest of honor, but she attended a 60th birthday party the couple hosted for King Constantine II of Greece in 2000.

When the Queen invited Camilla to join the royal family for a Golden Jubilee celebration at Buckingham Palace in February 2002, it was seen "as an official end to hostilities," according to Nicholl.

The Queen did not attend the couple's 2005 wedding, believing it wouldn't be appropriate because of her role as supreme governor of the Church. But she did give a toast at the couple's reception in front of 800 guests at Windsor Castle, speaking of the "terrible obstacles" they had overcome.

"I'm very proud and wish them well," she said. "My son is home and dry, with the woman he loves."

From 'the woman he loves' to 'the royals' greatest secret weapon'

Camilla gradually won over the British press and public as well, which Koenig credits to the royals slowly integrating her into the family and the future queen focusing her time and attention on charity work.

"She has grown into her role," Koenig told Insider. "She carries out her royal engagements with no drama, highlighting the cause rather than herself. She is seen as supporting Charles and does not seek attention."

"Camilla worked hard to earn the respect of the British," she said. "Of course, there are still Diana supporters out there who would not give Camilla the time of day, but she does her job well."

Eric Schiffer, an expert on celebrity-brand management, told Insider that Camilla had transformed her public image with "great grace, thoughtfulness, and discipline."

"I think Camilla's biggest contributions to her reputation were to not make many mistakes that would create a further pile-on of negative sentiment at a time where she represented, and was a source of projection, of people's feelings post-Diana," he said. "In her execution of discipline, she limited interviews to avoid misinterpretation and to control, either directly or indirectly, new variables that might affect how she's perceived."

But some believe Camilla's new reputation was achieved at the expense of others in the royal family. In his memoir "Spare," which released in January, Prince Harry wrote that Camilla sacrificed him "on her personal PR altar" and accused her and Charles of using him and Prince William to leverage better press coverage for themselves.

Harry also told Anderson Cooper during a "60 Minutes" interview in January that Camilla had built a special relationship with the UK press to "rehabilitate her image."

"That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging with the British press," Harry said. "And there was an open willingness on both sides to trade for information."

In September 2022, Camilla and Charles raised eyebrows when they named Tobyn Andreae, the former deputy editor of the Daily Mail, as their new communications secretary. Meghan Markle won a December 2021 lawsuit against the Daily Mail for publishing excerpts of a letter she wrote to her father, and Prince Harry is suing the paper's publisher, Associated Newspapers, over claims of illegal information gathering.

Harry, Elton John, and several other celebrities accused the publisher of bugging their homes and cars with listening devices, a law firm representing the group said in October 2022, the BBC reported. Associated Newspapers denied the claims at the time in a statement sent to Insider, calling the claims "preposterous smears."

"In other words, Camilla and Charles have no problem getting into bed with the same press outlets that abuse the Sussexes," Kristen Meinzer, a royal expert, told Insider.

Meinzer previously told Insider that the British press had come to treat Camilla with "great respect" while turning Markle into the "villain of the moment."

"I think the tabloids are very kind to Camilla," she said. "Camilla gets respect for just doing work on behalf of the crown. The difference between how she gets treated versus Meghan is night and day."

That stark difference was evident in the headlines that Camilla and Meghan received in the tabloids after Queen Elizabeth II's death in September.

The Daily Mail praised Camilla as "down to earth" and the "royals' greatest secret weapon," while The Sun wrote that she was helping save the monarchy. Headlines about Meghan claimed she left the Queen "hurt and exhausted" after stepping down as a senior royal, claimed she had been uninvited to a state reception at Buckingham Palace, and highlighted an Australian senator who called her a "horrible human."

From 'the royals' greatest secret weapon' to queen

In a message to the public on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee on February 6, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II shocked many when she announced that Camilla would be known as Queen Consort — not Princess Consort, as had been announced in 2005 — when it was time for Charles to ascend the throne.

"When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support you have given me," she said. "And it is my sincere wish that, when the time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service."

Royal experts told Insider at the time that the announcement was Queen Elizabeth's way of bolstering support for Camilla.

But the official invitation to Charles' May 6 coronation revealed that Camilla would soon have a new title: queen.

"It's a massive and powerful statement and one that will further position Camilla on an unconscious level in the minds and hearts of the British public," Schiffer told Insider. "It will only serve her popularity over time."

The invitation also noted that Camilla's three grandsons and great-nephew would serve as her four pages during the coronation, which insiders believe will further cement her family's status and power within the monarchy.

"Camilla never asked for any of this," an unnamed friend of the future queen told The Daily Beast. "But Charles always wanted her to be queen. Lots of people doubted he could pull it off but he has, and including her family in the coronation is something of a victory lap for both of them."

The royal family has weathered numerous scandals throughout its history. It remains to be seen what the future holds for Queen Camilla, but Schiffer thinks she'll be just fine if she sticks to her current playbook.

"Camilla needs to change nothing," he said. "And time will continue to be her best asset."

This story is part of "Charles in Charge," our package of stories all about King Charles' coronation. Read the rest here.