Diana's Popularity With Young People Means Camilla Will Not Be Forgiven

Princess Diana's legacy has won her a new generation of admirers, and that means Prince Charles' second wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is unlikely to be forgiven for the role she played in the breakdown of the Wales marriage, according to a recent discussion on a British morning TV show.

Feminist author Julie Bindel, joined Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, Jack Royston on Good Morning Britain for a discussion relating to Camilla's public perception ahead of her 75th birthday on July 17.

Camilla became a person of interest to the U.K. press in the early 1990s when Charles seemed to confirm rumors that he had been having an affair during a 1994 interview with Johnathan Dimbleby.

Following a discussion about Camilla in which Charles said she had "been a friend for a very long time... and will continue to be a friend for a very long time." The prince admitted to being faithful to Diana only until his marriage had "irretrievably broken down."

Later in 1996 when asked outright if Camilla had played a role in the breakdown of her marriage, Diana herself told BBC's Panorama that "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."

Good Morning Britain host Suzannah Reid opened the conversation by suggesting that the British public had moved on from the negative feeling toward Camilla in the 1990s following her marriage to Charles in 2005 and seamless integration into the royal fold.

"The queen has sort of anointed her future queen consort," she said, "most people have forgotten about the breakdown of the marriage and they love her now."

Royston disagreed with this point, citing recent poll data which suggests a large percentage of Britons are still ambivalent towards Camilla with Diana's legacy of kindness and perception as a victim placing younger people on her side.

"I don't think they have moved on, to be completely honest with you," he said. "You can see that in the polling that YouGov does, for example. People in the 1990s took Diana's side in this dispute and actually the younger generations growing up now feel just as strongly I think as people did back then."

"They love Diana," Royston added. "They love the legacy that she left, her humanitarian streak, her warmth and kindness and they feel she was the victim of an injustice basically. That she was, to use Diana's own words, 'a lamb to the slaughter' when she married Charles."

Royston then concluded that Charles' marrying Diana and introducing her to the rigors of royal life at such a young age before having an affair with Camilla is what people today continue to raise a problem with.

"It is that feeling that drives some of the negative sentiment towards Charles and Camilla," he added.

Camilla has undertaken a series of PR projects to mark her 75th year including her first interview and photoshoot for British Vogue as well as guest editing a special edition of the British magazine Country Life with an accompanying documentary.

Current YouGov polling shows Camilla is the 8th most popular royal in Britain, behind the queen, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Princess Anne, Zara Philips and Prince Charles. Data shows that she is currently "liked" by 40 percent of Brits while she is "disliked" by 27 percent.

Part of Camilla's likeability can be put down to the authentic way she undertakes her charity work, Bindel argued, and continued to add that the criticism faced by the royal for her role in an extramarital affair is sexist.

"This is down to sexism in my view," she explained. "Blaming the woman for an affair that a man has."

"Of course Diana was a victim. She was railroaded into an arranged marriage, it was appalling what happened to her but this is not down to Camilla," Bindel said. "Camilla is someone who takes her charitable work really seriously, as Diana did, but Camilla actually advocates the more stigmatized issues such as rape, sexual assult, sexual abuse and everyone I know that has met her... say that she is genuine."

Concluding her point, Bindel said of Camilla: "I think that now we can really stop thinking of her as the wicked stepmother in the fairytale where Diana is the princess and stop this sexist approach to comparing women."

Camilla herself has rarely spoken about her experiences during the 1990s and has never spoken on the record about Diana. In her interview with Vogue, the royal addressed negative media attention and how she has dealt with it:

"It's not easy...I was scrutinized for such a long time that you just have to find a way to live with it," she said. "Nobody likes to be looked at all the time and, you know, criticized ...But I think in the end, I sort of rise above it and get on with it. You've got to get on with life."

In February the queen gave Camilla her biggest seal of approval when in her statement marking the 70th anniversary she became queen she included the line:

"When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service."