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King Charles and Queen Camilla pictured in new portrait as Prince George’s coronation role confirmed

The announcements come as Buckingham Palace shared a stunning new portrait of the King and Queen to mark one month until their big day on the 6th of May.

Taken in March in the Blue Drawing Room at the Palace, the royal couple are seen standing close together and smiling broadly for the camera. Charles wears a navy blue pinstripe suit with a patterned tie, while Camilla matches her husband in a blue Fiona Clare dress worn with a diamond clasp necklace. 

Camilla’s ‘new’ title

In a new development, Camilla’s “Consort” title has been dropped on the formal invitations, paving the way for her to be known simply as Queen Camilla going forward.

A royal source said “it made sense” to refer to her as Queen Consort in the months after the late Queen’s death, but added: ‘Queen Camilla’ is the appropriate title to set against ‘King Charles’ on the invitation.

“The coronation is an appropriate time to start using ‘Queen Camilla’ in an official capacity.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla photographed by Hugo Burnand
A new portrait of the King and Queen

At the time of Prince Charles’s marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005, Clarence House said she would be known as Princess Consort when he eventually became King but in a message to mark the start of her Platinum Jubilee year on the 6th of February last year, the late Queen Elizabeth II said it was her “sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service”. From the coronation onwards, however, the Palace will follow the precedent set by previous wives of Kings, including Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

First look at the coronation invitation

Camilla’s title change appears on the official invitation for the ceremony, which was designed by Andrew Jamieson, a heraldic artist and manuscript illuminator and a Brother of the Art Workers’ Guild, of which The King is an Honorary Member.

Hand-painted in watercolour and gouache, the design will be reproduced and printed on recycled card with gold foil detailing before being sent out to some 2,000 guests.

King Charles's coronation invitation
The invitation for the coronation has been designed by Andrew Jamieson

At its centre is the motif of the Green Man, an ancient figure from British folklore, symbolic of spring and rebirth, to celebrate the new reign. The figure is crowned in natural foliage formed of oak, ivy and hawthorn leaves, and the emblematic flowers of the United Kingdom – the rose, thistle and daffodil.

In a nod to the King’s passion for the natural world, a British wildflower meadow bordering the invitation features lily of the valley, cornflowers, wild strawberries, dog roses, bluebells, and a sprig of rosemary for remembrance, together with wildlife including a bee, a butterfly, a ladybird, a wren and a robin. Flowers appear in groupings of three, signifying The King becoming the third monarch of his name. 

A lion, a unicorn and a boar – taken from the King and Queen’s coats of arms – can be seen amongst the flowers. Her Majesty’s arms are now enclosed by the Garter, following her installation as a Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter last summer.

Prince George’s role at the coronation

Prince George and the Queen Camilla’s grandsons will play key roles during the Coronation on 6 May, Buckingham Palace has revealed.

The nine-year-old second-in-line to the throne is one of four Pages of Honour to the King, along with the children of family friends, Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, 13, Nicholas Barclay, 13, and Ralph Tollemache, 12. Prince George will serve as one of his grandpa Charles’s Page of Honours

Meanwhile the Queen’s Pages of Honour will be her grandsons Gus and Louis Lopes, 13, and Freddy Parker Bowles, 13, and her great-nephew Arthur Elliot, ten. The pages will carry the long trains of the King and Queen Consort’s ceremonial robes and will form part of the procession through the nave of Westminster Abbey.

Page of Honour is a role usually granted to teenage sons of the nobility and they take part in major ceremonies involving the monarch, including coronations and the State Opening of Parliament. Traditionally they wear a scarlet frock coat with gold trimmings over a white satin waistcoat, breeches and hose, white gloves, black buckled shoes and a lace cravat and ruffles.

The Prince and Princess of Wales’s eldest son Prince George has served as a pageboy at the royal weddings of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank, but this will be his most significant public role to date.

Queen Camilla’s grandson’s roles at the coronation

This will also be the most high-profile appearance so far for Queen Camilla’s grandsons, who have been kept out of the spotlight by their parents until now.

Gus and Louis are the twin sons of her daughter Laura and her husband Harry Lopes, while Freddy is the child of her son Tom Parker Bowles and his former wife Sara Buys. Arthur is the son of Camilla’s nephew Ben Elliot and his wife Mary-Clare.

It is not yet known whether there will be roles for her granddaughters Eliza Lopes, 15 or Lola Parker Bowles, 15.

Lord Oliver Cholmondeley is the son of the Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley, David and Rose, who live near the Prince and Princess of Wales in Norfolk. The Marquess served as Lord Great Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth II from 1990 until her death in September and was previously a page of honour to her.