Camilla to get personal PRO after royal wedding

by Ian Hall, PR Week UK 18-Feb-05, 12:18

Camilla Parker Bowles is to get a dedicated PR adviser for the first time after her wedding to Prince Charles in seven weeks time.

The couple will wed on 8 April and, after that date, all media calls about her will be handled by a yet-to-be-allocated staffer from the Clarence House press unit.

Currently, any personal enquiries regarding Parker Bowles are handled by Joy Camm and Amanda MacManus, two part-time personal secretaries.

The two will become assistant private secretaries after the nuptials, when a member of Clarence House comms director Paddy Harverson's seven-strong team will be given full-time responsibility for her PR.

Royal journalists this week had mixed views as to what awaits whoever picks up the Parker Bowles PR gauntlet. Times columnist Andrew Pierce said: 'It's a hell of a challenge.'

Pierce, who claimed Parker Bowles 'wouldn't be walking up the aisle at all were it not for the work done by (former Charles/Camilla adviser) Mark Bolland', said: 'We've got to see more of her and we need to know more about her.

He added: 'I imagine they will do profiles in magazines - such as Tatler or the Mail on Sunday's - showing her doing woman-y, middle-class things,' Pierce said.

But he warned: 'Camilla is uncomfortable with celebrity, and Clarence House will need to avoid the "halo" approach (of Princess Diana).'

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said: 'I don't think they'll be madly proactive, and Camilla has never wanted relationships with particular journalists.'

'She'll never get through the Diana loyalists who will never forgive her; they need to be more proactive, but I don't think she's clamouring for a public role,' she added.

Daily Mirror Royal reporter Jane Kerr said: 'They are caught between a rock and a hard place. They need to gently introduce her to the public and avoid overexposure.'

She added: 'When she begins doing public duties we'll be watching every move.'

Kate Nicholas, p22.