Camilla Parker Bowles’ royal ‘consort’ title will change after King Charles’ coronation

It’s a royal upgrade.

King Charles’ wife will drop the title of “consort” — and officially become Queen Camilla following his May 6 coronation, invitations to the event reveal.

Once known as Princess Consort, Camilla was referred to as the Queen Consort after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

However, her title will change again with the coronation of King Charles III.

“The coronation of their Majesties, King Charles III and Queen Camilla,” official invitations sent by Buckingham Palace read.

Royal aides have defended the 75-year-old’s title upgrade.

“It made sense to refer to Her Majesty as the Queen Consort in the early months of His Majesty’s reign, to distinguish from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” an unnamed royal source told the Guardian.

“‘Queen Camilla’ is the appropriate title to set against ‘King Charles’ on the invitation,” the source said.

“The coronation is an appropriate time to start using ‘Queen Camilla’ in an official capacity. All former Queen Consorts have been known as ‘Queen’ plus their first name.”

Still, the invites caught many off-guard, given the couple’s controversial relationship. They met long before Charles married Princess Diana in 1981 — and remained infamously close during Charles and Diana’s marriage, which ended in divorce in 1996.

When Charles and Camilla tied the knot in 2005, she chose not to use Charles’ late wife’s title, Princess of Wales, prompting speculation and debate about her eventual title when Charles took the throne.

When Camilla joined the royal family, it was decided she’d simply be called “princess consort.” However, before her death last year, Queen Elizabeth II said it was her “sincere wish” that Camilla be referred to as Queen Consort when Charles became King.

“There was still a lot of negativity towards the relationship, and one of the sticking points was the fact that the marriage would make her one day queen,” ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy explained in a report earlier this year.

“And so the palace came up with this totally different, lesser title: ‘princess consort,’ in order to shut down that argument.”

However, Camilla’s public image has transformed since she was first cast as an add-on to Charles and Diana’s marriage — with the beloved late Princess famously recounting, “There were three of us in this marriage.”

After Diana, then 36, died in a Paris car crash, Camilla was portrayed as the most hated woman in Britain, with many believing she’d never go on to marry Charles or become queen.

However, Camilla has since won over much of the British public with her warmth and cheeky sense of humor.

“There has still been a huge turnaround in the last 20 years in how she is perceived by the public. She’s now very much accepted in her role, something that would have been unthinkable two decades ago,” Murphy said.

Camilla will be crowned alongside Charles at Westminster Abbey during a service expected to draw a crowd of about 2,000, including First Lady Jill Biden.