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Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is one the highest-ranking British royals because she is married to the future monarch, Prince Charles. However, that doesn’t stop the Duchess falling foul to an unfortunate rule when her husband is not around.

Born Camilla Shand, the Duchess of Cornwall has been a key figure in the lives of royals before becoming one herself when she married Prince Charles.

The royal pair go all the way back to the 1970s before either of them married their first spouses.

However, their romance was cut short when Charles was called away to train with the Royal Navy — and in his absence, Camilla wed Mr Parker Bowles in 1973.

This didn’t stop the couple getting back together officially some 20 years later, when Prince Charles stepped out with Camilla publically for the first time since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales back in January 1999.

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Now, when accompanied by her husband, Camilla is the second-highest ranking woman in England after the Queen, as Princess Diana once was.

However, if Charles is not present, she falls prey to a unique rule that is not commonly known.

When this happens, she drops in rank falling behind the Queen, her daughter Princess Anna and Princess Alexandra, who is the youngest granddaughter of King George V, and Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin.

Why does Camilla fall in rank?

This is because she is styled as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and not Princess of Wales, which she is entitled to as the wife of the Prince of Wales.

Her full titles after her marriage, although she does not use them all, are: Her Royal Highness The Princess Charles, Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Carrick, Baroness of Renfrew, Lady of the Isles, Princess of Scotland.

Traditional rank amongst European royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

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What’s more, she will not become Queen Consort when her husband becomes King.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams also spoke about the royal title Camilla is set to receive when Charles becomes King.

Mr Fitzwilliams told Express.co.uk: “We’ve only quite recently had the clarification again that Camilla will be Princess Consort, not Queen Consort.

“Princess Consort historically is something that doesn’t exist, it’s been invented.

“This was clarified subsequently because people did think that Camilla would be Queen.

“The only reason Camilla isn’t Queen Consort is, of course, because of the background with Diana.”

However, in 2012, the Queen appointed her daughter-in-law a Dame Grand Cross, the highest order in the Royal Victorian Order.

The honor is prized as a mark of high esteem and favour, bestowed directly by the Sovereign without the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

Other royals, such as Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Michael of Kent, the Earl of Snowdon, the Duke of Kent as well as British ambassadors and foreign heads of state.

The move was seen as a public endorsement from the Queen, after years of being a maligned figure because of the tragic death of Princess Diana, who once reportedly described her as ‘the rottweiler’.

Camilla was previously married to Andrew Parker-Bowles, with whom she has two children, Laura and Peter.

According to YouGov, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is the 11th most popular royalty and the eigth most famous.

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