Royals
Queen Camilla Breaks Royal Tradition With A Rare Appearance
She’s doing things her own way.
Queen Camilla has already broken King Charles’ recently revived royal tradition. Although the Daily Mail reported in early August that the British monarch would spend three months of summer at the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, as his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, would during her 70-year reign, Camilla is on the move.
Amid the king and queen’s supposed summertime break, Camilla made an appearance at the Ebor Festival at York Racecourse in York, England on Aug. 24 — much to the surprise of royalists. The queen was announced as patron of the York Racecourse in May, and her visit marked the opening of the Bustardthorpe Development complex. She participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, toured the grounds, and then enjoyed the festivities from the royal box.
King Charles also took a break from their Scottish getaway on Aug. 20, when he met with the families affected by the recent Southport attack. During his visit to the English town, the reigning monarch held private meetings with survivors, met emergency service workers, and signed a book of condolence.
Despite the couple’s recent outings, last summer was an even greater departure from Queen Elizabeth’s royal tradition. In 2023, Charles and Camilla spent much of the summer in London, before flying to France in September for a state visit.
Camilla’s Broken Traditions
This isn’t the first time the senior royal has broken tradition in recent months. In March, Camilla parted ways with an ancient practice dating back to A.D. 600 when she became the first queen consort (wife of the monarch) in history to lead the Royal Maundy Service on Easter Sunday.
The historic service was held at Worcester Cathedral, the team of which shared a statement prior to Camilla’s landmark visit. “We are SO excited to announce that we will be welcoming Her Majesty The Queen to the Cathedral,” the statement read. “HM The Queen will be distributing the Royal Maundy gifts on behalf of His Majesty The King.”
In late 2023, Camilla almost broke royal protocol at the traditional State Opening of Parliament before the ceremony had even begun. In footage of the ceremony uploaded by the UK Parliament, eagle-eyed royal fans noticed that the queen went to sit down before the king, which would’ve broken with royal norms of allowing the monarch to sit first. However, before taking her seat, Camilla appeared to realize her near-mistake, and waited for Charles to sit down.
