It was the honeymoon photos of the new Princess of Wales that clinched it for me to join Camp Diana.

I’d always disliked the Royal Family, what with their ethos of hunting, shooting and fishing. The bear skin hats worn for ceremonial duties. Their love of horse racing and polo. Fly fishing!

But the sight of Diana at Balmoral, clearly itchy in scratchy, dowdy tweed, trying to mask her boredom, made the animal lovers among us cheer her to the rafters.

 

We swiftly fell in love with her refusal to not only kill animals for pleasure, but to refuse to be stiff and formal, and to go on to champion unpopular causes such as campaigning for victims of Aids, eating disorders, and poor mental health.

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The the sight of Diana at Balmoral, clearly itchy in scratchy, dowdy tweed, trying to mask her boredom, made the animal lovers among us cheer her to the rafters

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Princess Diana announcing on Panorama that ‘there were three of us in this marriage’

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The Welsh Guards alongside the gun carriage carrying the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales

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Camilla in 1999 sipping sherry and going out with the Beaufort Hunt at Didmarton

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Charles and Camilla’s wedding in 2005 still left Liz Jones unconvinced

Camilla was of course the villain of the piece. When the taped conversations between her and Charles were released (I used to sit in my office, dialling The Sun phone line to pay to listen to them, open mouthed), not to mention the moment Diana, during her BBC interview with Martin Bashir, revealed ‘There were three of us in this marriage’, I and any woman who had ever been cheated on, lied to, humiliated by a man would forever hold Diana in the highest esteem for her courage to speak out. When she died in Paris in 1997, the grief was personal, genuine, overwhelming. I didn’t sob as hard when my own father died a year later: I had no more tears left to shed.

When Camilla finally married the man she had always been in love with, I was unconvinced, unexcited. I simply did not want to know. How dare she have made Diana so unhappy, so cast aside? She wasn’t as young, nowhere near as beautiful. Yes, she and Charles had more in common, but they should have decided that sooner!

I only really started to thaw towards Camilla, drip by drip, after Queen Elizabeth died. She seemed to possess quiet dignity. Other women suddenly seemed really strident, and loud. Remember the way Camilla calmed Charles down when he was annoyed by a pen and ink? As the culture changed, and women embraced MeToo, refusing to be victims, the fact Camilla had never whined, or looked bored, or bleated doe eyed to a camera, ‘I’m not okay’ was suddenly a beacon of strength.

When Charles was diagnosed with cancer, she didn’t sit by his bed stroking his hand, she dusted herself off and got on with it, working hard, with a smile on her face. When her beloved brother, environmentalist Mark Shand, died, she took up the mantle, raising money to help with the conservation of Asian elephants.

I always disliked the fact she enjoyed fox hunting, was pictured mounted, sipping sherry. When hunting with hounds became illegal, she gave it up even as many others carried on. That she no longer takes part in a blood sport she had been brought up to enjoy, and which seemed normal to her and her class (Charles loved it too), is a welcome step in the right direction. Yes, we can change, yes we can bend to the will of the people.

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The vegan Coronation scroll was a triumph for animal lovers

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Camilla was seen calming the situation down when the King seemed annoyed by a pen

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Camilla wrote to PETA to announce that she would no longer buy anything using animal fur

Earlier this week, Camilla wrote to PETA, the animal rights campaign group, to announce she would no longer buy anything using animal fur. It is a small step, as she might still wear vintage fur on occasion. Not quite as heart-warming as Queen Elizabeth, sat alongside a straight-backed rescued beagle called Guy in her car on the way to Meghan’s wedding rehearsal, not an Awwww moment, but welcome nonetheless.

Camilla’s decision joins a long list of animal friendly actions taken by the Royal Family in recent months. Earlier this month, the RSPCA announced that King Charles is its new patron, saying, ‘His Majesty’s powerful voice for nature and regenerative farming will be vital in raising the profile of animal welfare and inspire more people than ever to create a better world for every animal.’ Foie gras is no longer served in the Royal Household, and the Coronation Roll, the official record of last year’s ceremony, was produced on paper not parchment, which is made from animal skin. But Rome wasn’t built in a day. A 2023 Guardian investigation reported that over the past two decades Sandringham ‘has been linked to the deaths and disappearances of a string of legally protected birds’.

Animal Aid found that more than 7,000 mammals and birds were killed on Royal land in one year. Among that number, thousands of foxes and corvids were killed in order to protect the estate’s pheasants from predators. Snares are banned in Wales and Scotland, but not in England. In 2021, PETA wrote to the then Prince of Wales with a request to ban snares at Sandringham, but claims not to have received a response to this day. Balmoral is used to hosting ‘straightforward’ shooting parties.

But I do think Camilla is listening to what the ordinary British public want. According to the RSPCA, 95 per cent of us disagree with wearing fur. Charles clearly takes note of her advice. I like to imagine her whispering in his ear, gently persuading and guiding. So, Camp Camilla it is. Non-bearskin hats off to her. I cannot wait to see what long-held tradition will meet a sticky end next…