Queen Elizabeth II with Duchess Camilla (stock photo from 2013)
Photo: Eamonn M McCormack/ Getty Images
According to Queen Elizabeth II, Duchess Camilla should one day bear the title of Queen alongside the heir to the throne, Prince Charles.
"It is my sincere wish that when the time comes, Camilla will be known as the 'Queen Consort'," the monarch wrote in a statement released by the palace on Saturday, the eve of her 70th jubilee .
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla said they were "touched and honored" by the Queen's gesture, according to the PA news agency.
That the wives of kings are crowned as "Queen Consort" is actually the rule.
This was also the case with the mother and grandmother of the current Queen.
However, in the case of Camilla, who was blamed for breaking up Prince Charles and Princess Diana decades ago, the issue has long been moot.
Around Charles' and Camilla's wedding 17 years ago, there was a public debate about whether Camilla should one day bear the title or not.
According to insiders, Camilla herself has long planned to call herself "Princess Consort" when her husband succeeds to the throne.
According to experts, Camilla - still known by her official title as the Duchess of Cornwall - would have become the legal queen anyway.
Unless a corresponding change in the law is introduced to prevent this.
With her public statement, Queen Elizabeth II has finally ended this debate and taken Camilla's acceptance in the British royal family to a new level.
In recent years, Camilla has become increasingly popular with the British people and has established herself as a prominent member of the royal family.
The 74-year-old is considered approachable in public appearances, down-to-earth and humorous.
Elizabeth II also renewed her decades-old promise and announced that she would serve her people for the rest of her life.
The 95-year-old monarch also announced this in the statement.
"It gives me joy to renew the promise I made in 1947 that my life would always be dedicated to service," it says.
For decades, the statement made by the Queen in 1947, before the start of her reign, has been seen as a promise that she would not abdicate before the end of her life.
At that time she said in a speech: "I declare that my whole life, be it short or long, should be dedicated to service."
The Queen celebrates her 70th anniversary on the throne on Sunday.
It is the first time that the monarch has had to celebrate the anniversary without her husband Prince Philip, who died last year.
Elizabeth's father George VI
had died on February 6, 1952.
This made his eldest daughter queen.
No monarch before her has long reigned on the throne of the United Kingdom.
whale/dpa