This is very soothing:
Six ways to be more Camilla
The Queen Consort is the modern embodiment of a good egg – if you need inspiration you could do a lot worse than following her lead
SHANE WATSON3 October 2022 • 1:00pm
Besides being a person we’re pretty sure we’re on the road to admiring a lot, Camilla is surprisingly relatable CREDIT: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
The other day I was complaining about someone’s behaviour, as you do, and then after a while the person I was complaining to stopped me and said: “You know what the answer is, don’t you? Be more Camilla.” A few weeks ago my response would have been “What?” or “Camilla Who?”
Not now, obviously. You don’t need to have read all the recent profiles of the Queen Consort to have a clear sense that she is the modern embodiment of a good egg. She has some of the best qualities of the late Queen – a genuine curiosity about people, a country woman’s no-nonsense approach to life – and the past days have confirmed her as a trooper in the best tradition (she did it all with a broken toe, we are told). When my friend advised being more Camilla, she meant “Rise above it. Smile and forget”.
“Being more Camilla” is not something that would have occurred to us until this moment – we never would have advised each other to “be more Queen Elizabeth” after all. But
Camilla is more like us: 20 years younger, the sort of woman who has definitely given up smoking but might, nonetheless, be found outside the backdoor with the YAs; someone who might easily stay in her dressing gown until lunch, or let the dogs eat toast standing on the table (not Queen behaviour) and she always looks happy. Besides being a person we’re pretty sure we’re on the road to admiring a lot, Camilla is surprisingly relatable.
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So for those looking for inspiration, here’s how to channel the Queen Consort and BMC (be more Camilla):
- Put your own preferences to one side whenever necessary. Like the mischievous wink Camilla gave her team as she headed into the Trump circus, for civilian purposes the message is don’t make a fuss if you have to sit next to the boring man/break your toe in a dog-related incident (we bet). Suck it up for the greater good if that’s required.
- Be good for your age, not “ageless”. Many’s the time Camilla has been offered the name of a fabulous plastic surgeon, so she says, but of course finds the idea hilarious as she doesn’t give a stuff about lines. She’s married to the King and has little to prove at this point – this is lesson number two. Have faith in yourself. Don’t try and turn the clock back.
- That said, get yourself some decent make-up – not the orange stuff – a good bra and, if you move in those sort of circles, a great hat. Camilla has never looked back since that Philip Treacey wedding headdress.
- Be a soother of those less easy-going than yourself. We didn’t need to witness the King’s pen throw downs to confirm that Camilla’s role is that of mood-smoother, forever watchful and ready to step in with a reassuring smile. We’re not suggesting indulging huffy man behaviour, just that stamping out the touch paper is a BMC quality. You can bet that while some of us would have Meghan in the stocks round the back, Camilla is counselling generosity and saying things like, “Honestly, I don’t see why we don’t let them come and, you know… just have a stiff drink or two.”
- Have a long fuse and forgive everything. Hard but evidently a BMC trick.
- Laugh a lot and find the funny side whenever possible. In every picture of Charles and Camilla, they are hooting. You see them together, convulsed in giggles, and think: “Should I lighten up about That Thing He Did that made me furious? Maybe it was actually quite funny?” BMC in action.
- Be a good lunch date. As in for godchildren, children, daughter-in-laws, nephews. It does feel like Camilla is a top lunch date who will always be saying, “Oh shall we, go on, just one tiny glass.”
There, don’t you feel better already?
(I'm very juvenile and bad at photoshop): 
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