From Pariah to ROYAL LINCHPIN

It's been a long road for Camilla. Branded 'the villain', she's kept a dignified silence in the face of unrelenting hostility. Now, she is Queen. Emily Andrews, who has met her many times, speaks to friends and colleagues to discover how she survived

- Emily Andrews

She was once the most reviled woman in Britain; branded 'the Rottweiler' by Princess Diana and blamed as the third person in her marriage breakdown to the then Prince Charles.

Public dislike was so strong in the 90s that a story about Camilla Parker Bowles being pelted with bread rolls in her local Sainsbury's in Chippenham was wholeheartedly believed (it was much later revealed to be a newspaper stunt).

Now, as King Charles and Queen Camilla prepare to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in April, it's even more remarkable how her reputation has turned from pariah to royal linchpin.

When both the King and Princess of Wales were diagnosed with cancer last year and they stepped back from public life to focus on their chemotherapy treatment, and Prince William postponed his royal duties to care for his family, it was the Queen who kept calm and carried on.

Although extremely worried about her husband, she carried out hundreds of royal and charity visits to keep the public face of the monarchy going.

Her resilience and fortitude are extraordinary-how many of us would have survived the critical onslaught and scrutiny that besieged her once Charles publicly admitted to adultery in 1994?

She was forced to hide in her Wiltshire home for extended periods, and that revelation prompted her then husband Andrew Parker Bowles to divorce her in 1995, leaving her totally on her own.

So, just how did Camilla manage to survive those wilderness years?

Her transformation

First of all, she charmed Charles' staff and made herself indispensable in helping them manage and support the workaholic prince.