A royal photographer has hit back at internet trolls who made vile comments about Queen Camilla during her state visit to the Vatican with King Charles. The King and Queen spent two days in the city-state in Italy, attending various engagements, including meeting Pope Leo XIV for the first time, and Charles making history as the first British monarch to pray with the Pope since the Reformation.
For the audience with the Pope, the Queen was appropriately dressed in black, in accordance with papal protocol, which requires women who are not Catholic to wear a black ensemble and a black veil, or shawl, over their head. Only Catholic royal women have got the “le privilège du blanc” (the privilege of the white) when having an audience with the Pope.
Queen Elizabeth wore a similar ensemble with a mantilla when having audiences with Pope John Paul II in 1980 and 2000.
Camilla adhered to protocol and wore a black silk dress by Fiona Clare, a black mantilla by Phillip Treacy, and a “raspberry pip” brooch in the shape of a cross.
The brooch is significant as it belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth and is estimated to be worth a whopping £40,000.
But some people online appeared to mock the Queen and her mantilla, calling the headpiece a “misstep” and other brutal remarks about her appearance.
But royal photographer Joshua Brandwood hit back at those who made “abhorrent comments” about the Queen and said she is “nothing but gracious and kind”.
He wrote on his X account: “Saddened to see some truly abhorrent comments about Her Majesty on my last post.
“Every time I’ve had the privilege of photographing her, she’s been nothing but gracious and kind.
“I genuinely couldn’t say a bad word about her.”
