Pupils’ delight at meeting future Queen as Camilla makes public appearance

The Duchess of Cornwall has delighted school pupils who were thrilled to meet the woman who will one day be Queen, on her first outing as a future Queen Consort.

Camilla was undertaking her first public engagement since the Queen, in her historic Platinum Jubilee message, backed her daughter-in-law to be crowned.

The duchess, who will be known as Queen Camilla alongside the Prince of Wales when he becomes king, toured Roundhill Primary School in Bath on Tuesday.

It was the first time the 74-year-old duchess had been out and about on royal duty since the Queen’s major intervention.

Eleven-year-old Lillian Abulrub and nine-year-old Wren Taylor-Loder joined the duchess as she bedded in a new tree for the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative.

Lillian said: “It was really exciting, because she’s going to be the Queen, so it was great. She was really nice.”

Describing it as a “once in a lifetime” moment, Wren added: “I was thinking I have met this person now and she is going to be the Queen.”

The Queen has expressed her “sincere wish” that Camilla will one day be the Queen Consort, ending years of controversy and uncertainty over the duchess’s future title.

But Roundhill’s headteacher, Sue Adams, admitted the development was lost on the younger pupils she met, who are confused over royal names.

Asked afterwards whether the pupils understood the significance of the Queen’s announcement, Mrs Adams said: “I think some of the older children do.

“It would be lost on our younger children, I think, and they do get sometimes confused by the titles of different people, but it’s part of our work.”

She added: “We always watch Newsround and we try and keep the children up to date.”

Asked whether Camilla’s visit was “even more exciting” because of the announcement, Mrs Adams replied: “Absolutely, definitely.”

Flag-waving pupils gathered outside to give Camilla a regal welcome, with the school walls and gates adorned with Union flag bunting.

As she arrived, the smiling duchess stopped to chat and wave to the youngsters leaning over the low blue school gates.

Waving at one, she remarked: “Hi. What’s your name? Nice to see you.”

The duchess planted a silver birch tree for the Queen’s Green Canopy and unveiled a plaque to mark her visit – all staple duties on royal engagements.

She also dropped in on a maths lesson on division and remainders, but admitted the subject was not her favourite.

The duchess jokingly pulled a face and said: “I was never any good at maths. If I was in your class, I would be bottom of the class.”

In another lesson, the duchess held hands around a table with youngsters, as they took part in a singalong.

And chatting to a girl who was playing with pretend tea and cakes in a mini-kitchen, Camilla asked: “Are those cakes? Oh, am I going to get one?”

Presented with a plastic chocolate cupcake with blue icing, the duchess remarked: “Oh how lovely. What sort of cake is that? It’s got blue icing. Is it chocolate?… What are you cooking in there? They look delicious. Are you going to have them for your lunch?”

Camilla asked if it was “all go” at the school, with Mrs Adams joking: “Well it is today”.

After watching a performance of We Are Proud Of Our School, a new song the children learned for her visit, Camilla said: “Thank you to you all for asking me to come to your lovely school.

“It’s a real treat to come here and it’s always a pleasure to come back to Bath, which is my home city.

“I have been so impressed by everything I have seen, and I never have enough time to see all that there is to see.

“I loved listening to you, I loved seeing your library and watching you do your numeracy – I didn’t understand a word of it.

“One day I hope I shall be back again when I’m even older than I am now and to see that tree looking a bit bigger.”

Camilla also joined three-year-olds in a Language for Life class in the Sunbeams early years room, chatted to youngsters making fruit smoothies, and visited a reading group.

The wife of a king automatically becomes a queen consort and only a change in legislation would prevent her from doing so.

But when the former Mrs Parker Bowles married Charles 17 years ago, aides insisted she did not want to be Queen and “intended” to be known as Princess Consort instead.

Camilla was blamed for the breakdown of the prince’s marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales.

But in the decades after the divorce, the untimely death of Diana in 1997 and Camilla’s acceptance into The Firm, the public mood towards the duchess has softened, and she has gradually taken on a more prominent position within the royal family.

Camilla is patron of St John’s Foundation, a local Bath charity which launched a plan in 2020 to equip children with the skills and level of education needed to thrive in their transition into secondary school.