Game of Crowns: Elizabeth, Camilla, Kate, and the Throne (35 page)

To be sure, one had to look no farther than Clarence House for harbingers of things to come. There Camilla, who had hired noted interior designer Robert Kime to redo Clarence House, Highgrove, Ray Mill, and Birkhall, was already poring over plans to redecorate rooms in the private residence at Buckingham Palace—rooms that, for the most part, the Queen had left unchanged for decades.

There are those who persist in believing that the Queen will never abdicate, that the mere idea is anathema to her. Yet an awful lot of “nevers” have come to pass since Diana and Charles were wed thirty-five years ago. The Queen would never agree to pay income taxes. She did (and so did the rest of the Royal Family). The Queen would never give up the royal yacht
Britannia
. She did. The Queen would never open the doors of Buckingham Palace to the public. She has. The Queen would never allow her son and heir to divorce. She did. The Queen would never visit Ireland, and no Royal would ever shake hands with leaders of the Irish Republican Army. Elizabeth was the first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland, and Charles shook hands with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams thirty-six years after Adams gloated over
the IRA’s murder of his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten. There would never be an end to the thirteen-hundred-year-old law of primogeniture. There was. Would the monarch ever deign to ride in a taxicab, lift a pint at a pub, or eat at McDonald’s? Her Majesty has done all of these things, and, determined not to be left out of the information age, she has also availed herself of Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

From the day she climbed down from a fig tree in Africa to assume the burdens of monarchy, Elizabeth II has been guided by a sense of duty to her subjects. Buffeted by the winds of change, the Queen also has shown a willingness to adapt to the times, if such was required to sustain the institutions and traditions she held dear.

To be sure, retirement would not be easy for history’s longest-reigning, hardest-working sovereign. However, once convinced by Sir Christopher Geidt and others that it was needed to save the House of Windsor, it was just one last sacrifice she was willing to make.

THE QUEEN, SAID VETERAN ROYALS
correspondent Robert Jobson, “is a traditionalist, dutiful to her core. But she knows that, for the monarchy to survive and be relevant . . . it must be in harmony with the people.” That will only happen, she realizes, when the people have the king—and the queen—they want.

“The only thing against the Queen,” agreed the
Telegraph
’s Tim Heald, “is her age, and although her son is obviously younger, time is not exactly on his side—particularly when one considers the popularity of his children.”

Halfway through the twenty-first century, it seems all but certain
that King William V and Queen Catherine will be waving at the multitudes with George, the Prince of Wales, and Princess Charlotte smiling beside them. It is even conceivable, given the Windsor genes, that a King George VII could extend the monarchy into the twenty-second century.

Elizabeth II has done more than just hope and dream this will happen. In the nineteen years since Diana’s death threatened to sink the monarchy, she has deftly steered it away from the rocks and into open water. Even more treacherous seas lie ahead.

Before William can assume command, the House of Windsor will have to survive the reign of Charles III and Camilla—“The Rottweiler,” “That Wicked, Wicked Woman,” the next undoubted Queen of England.

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Elizabeth had already reigned as Queen for twenty-three years when Prince Charles and Camilla got together after a polo match in 1975.

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During a break in their affair, he met the only movie star he claimed to have a serious crush on—Barbra Streisand.

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A lifelong horsewoman, the Queen rode sidesaddle during the Trooping of the Colour parade even after blank rounds from a revolver startled her mount in 1981. She began taking a carriage during the ceremonies six years later.

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It was just for laughs when Diana smashed a prop bottle over her husband’s head on the set of the film
The Living Daylights
in 1989. But Diana was already begging the Queen to end Charles’s affair with Camilla.

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The Queen Mother, standing between Elizabeth and Diana on the royal balcony at Buckingham Palace, disliked Diana but detested Camilla.