On November 24, Channel 4 broadcast the documentary Queen Camilla: The Wicked Stepmother ?.
In the description, the British TV channel posed a series of questions instead of a film summary: “How did Camilla Parker Bowles go from the most hated woman in Britain to Queen Camilla, a national treasure? Was her transformation caused by Prince Harry?”.
The relationship between Queen Camilla and Prince Harry is explored in a new Channel documentary. Photo: Getty Images.
The film was originally supposed to be titled Camilla: Harry’s “Wicked” Stepmother . According to The Sun , the film depicts the woman born in 1947 as Prince Harry’s “wicked stepmother,” and suggests that Camilla spent about three decades building a positive image but the late Queen Elizabeth II never wanted her to take the throne.
The documentary about Queen Camilla is said to have been inspired by an interview between Prince Harry and American journalist Anderson Cooper to promote his 2023 memoir Spare .
During the conversation, the Duke of Sussex used many negative words to describe his stepmother: “She is a villain. She is the third person in the marriage. She needs to rebuild her image. That makes her dangerous because of the relationships she has built in the British press. Both sides are willing to exchange information. With a family built on a hierarchy and her on the way to becoming queen, there will be people or dead bodies left in the streets.”
However, a few hours later, Prince Harry shared with Good Morning America that he did not consider Queen Camilla an evil stepmother.
In September, unnamed sources said Channel 4 had long planned to air the film but had delayed it after King Charles revealed he had cancer. The channel feared the anti-Camilla documentary could spark a backlash due to the monarch’s poor health.
At the time, Channel 4 did not comment much, only saying on the Daily Mail that it would look into Camilla’s background and circumstances as she is now queen.
After a long wait, Queen Camilla: The Wicked Stepmother? has finally been released. Unfortunately, contrary to the expectations that caused an explosion on social media and the media, the film was not warmly received. Critics said that the film had outdated content, few new perspectives, and was not developed in an interesting way.
The Guardian rated the film 2/5 stars. Writer Lucy Mangan criticized the film as boring, superficial, and its content only skimmed over facts that even the most indifferent people had known for a long time.
The TV critic called it a low-budget project that was a cut-and-paste affair, a show that was new but old. She didn’t understand what the show was worth or who it was for.
Although the final 20 minutes deal with Harry’s animosity towards his stepmother, it is insignificant, and irrelevant to the main focus of the film, according to Mangan.
“Would anyone really care about a documentary chronicling Camilla’s rise from cheerful schoolgirl to Diana’s enemy to queen?” she asked.
Major British newspapers have not given high marks to the documentary about Queen Camilla. Photo: Shutterstock.
Similarly, The Times also gave it 2/5 stars. Deputy TV editor Ben Dowell called the film a mess and not doing anyone any good.
Channel 4 appears to be trying to take down the Queen, but the attacks are inoffensive and offer viewers nothing more than old, uninteresting information. The programme has made allegations of Camilla’s “evil” but has failed to prove them, instead relying on Harry’s unfounded beliefs.
The Telegraph couldn’t have given it a higher rating, calling the show an unnecessary and kitschy dig into Camilla’s past. Writer Anita Singh felt it was created simply to fill a void.
