Queen Camilla and the Gloucesters: Stepping Up in Royal Duties

With King Charles and Kate sidelined due to health issues, Queen Camilla increasingly finds herself at the helm of the royal family and representing the Crown in public engagements. But she is not alone: on several occasions, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester have been by her side. Last week, Camilla was with Duchess Birgitte, 77 years old, born in Denmark and wife of the 79-year-old Prince Richard, first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. They attended the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes, honors awarded to the country's top 22 educational and university institutions in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Richard, an architect by training, has never sought the limelight. He has rarely been at the center of public events, but has always been there for Charles. Along with his wife, he has been performing royal duties for 52 years: last year Richard attended 172 public events, while Birgitte attended 69 events. The Duke is not only part of the royal family but has a network of aristocratic relationships, many of which are Scottish. His father, Prince Henry, was one of the younger brothers of King Edward VIII and King George VI. Daughter of a lawyer, Birgitte van Deurs met the Duke of Gloucester at the University of Cambridge in the late 1960s. The two announced their engagement in February 197 and were married on July 8 of the same year. Today they live at Kensington Palace and have three children: Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster, Lady Davina Windsor, and Lady Rose Windsor. The couple accompanied Charles and Camilla to the New Year's Eve mass at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, and were in the front row during the funerals of Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of Charles in May 2023. The Duchess sat next to King Charles at his 75th birthday party. Yesterday she accompanied the Queen during a ceremony for the fourth time in recent weeks, as during the commemoration of the late King Constantine of Greece, in Windsor, which the Prince of Wales was unable to attend.