Queen Camilla did not attend Eugenie’s wedding and skipped Beatrice’s as well.
To emphasize Queen Camilla’s resolute character when it comes to severing ties, Wilson recalled an incident from the years before her marriage to Charles, when Camilla allegedly used a hunting whip to ward off some overly intrusive photographers. “She once famously wielded her hefty hunting whip over the heads of photographers who came too close during her problem days before her marriage to Charles,” he noted. “With Andrew, Fergie, Beatrice and Eugenie in her sights, looks like she’ll be cracking it again.”
Tensions between Camilla and the York family actually seem to have roots in the past. Indeed, the queen did not attend Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor in 2018, instead attending an already scheduled engagement at Crathie Primary School, near Balmoral. The choice surprised many royal watchers at the time.
Camilla also did not show up at Princess Beatrice’s wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. The ceremony, held in a reduced form due to COVID-19 restrictions, included just 20 guests. Among them were Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, but not Charles and Camilla. The meeting may now take place next June 6 at the wedding of Peter Phillips to Harriet Sperling at All Saints’ Church in Kemble. It appears that Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice have been invited to the ceremony.
Queen Camilla is committed to raising awareness about violence against women, and in the days when the Epstein storm was hitting Andrew and his family, she was sending clear messages. Last March, speaking at St. James’s Palace during an event organized by the Women of the World movement for International Women’s Day, the queen delivered a powerful speech in support of victims of violence and abuse while wearing a “Shame Must Change Sides” pin. “We stand with you and alongside you, today and every day, in solidarity, sorrow and sympathy,” Camilla said. Some commentators interpreted those words as a not-so-subtle reference to the Epstein scandal. According to the Daily Mail, a Buckingham Palace spokesman, commenting on the speech, merely observed, “I think Her Majesty’s words speak for themselves.”