Hello! I have a question regarding the whole Camilla vs. Diana debate. Is this like a case of putting these two against one another or a case of being mad on behalf of a woman who died two decades ago? Don’t get me wrong, If Diana’s kids or close family had any issues with Camilla being queen, I’d understand it to a certain extent, but it seems like the only ones who have problems with Camilla taking the title are the people who don’t have any kind personal stakes in the affair. I don’t know, I guess what I’m trying to say is, does any of this have anything to do with these women as people or as the victim/villain narrative that gets placed on them. I hope that makes some sense.
So I'm honestly not 100% sure if I'm getting your question properly but ultimately we're not in people's heads and as I don't personally hold those views, I can only speculate.
I would say for people who were around when this was all going down - particularly women - it's about the Diana myth. I have never seen a single Diana fan or stan who likes her for who she was in all her complexity. The Diana they loved was someone who they could project on to: they could see themselves in her, or their daughter, or their sister. You only need to look at the reaction to her death. They saw it as a personal loss, they believed their pain was as great as the people who knew and loved her. So for those people, Camilla wasn't just someone who hurt a stranger they admired. She was someone who hurt them. Now Diana's died, it doesn't matter because they're still here and they still see it as an attack on them personally.
But the Camilla hate train has really popped off again because of Gen Z. They're as intense as the boomers! And yet they won't remember a world where Diana was a living person. She represents everything they hate: wealth, unearned privilege, press manipulation, royalty. So why do they still feel so strongly? I'd honestly argue it's just plain old fashioned misogyny. Russell Brand is a dick but he did talk once about the way Diana's image was impacted by the whole "virgin-whore" dichotomy (x). People view Diana as the virgin and the martyr. And you can't have a martyr unless you have someone persecuting them. So Camilla became the whore, the homewrecker responsible for everything bad that ever happened to Diana. And that's actually unfair on both women because it erases their identity. People keep this narrative going because they feel more comfortable viewing women by these archetypes instead of for who they are. If it was really about morality, they would throw more hatred at Charles who was the one who actually betrayed Diana. But they don't. Because it's not really about that.
TL;DR: It's misogyny spurred on by an unhealthy attachment to a woman who none of us have ever actually spent time with.
The Crown is a big reason (I would argue the main reason) why there is such a resurgence of Camilla hate. The most recent season introduced a whole new generation to the 80s scandals.
