Camilla at 75: Duchess of Cornwall marks milestone birthday with new portrait

Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who turns 75 on Sunday, will celebrate the occasion with a small family dinner at Prince Charles’s Highgrove estate in south-west England.

The palace released a new portrait of Camilla for the occasion, taken by Chris Jackson at Camilla's home in Raymill, Wiltshire, last month. In the shot, she is wearing a blue floral dress from Sophie Dundas, and is surrounded by flowers, with a cup of tea in front of her.

The big occasion follows British broadcaster ITV’s release of a documentary about the duchess’s stint as guest editor of Country Life, during which she helped produce a special edition celebrating the magazine’s 125th anniversary. In a personal tribute, Camilla selected Charles, her husband, as one of her rural heroes.

“It’s not easy to write about your husband," she said in the film. “I bit through several pencils.”

The portraits of Camilla for Country Life were shot by her stepdaughter-in-law, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, who is known as a keen photographer.

The milestone birthday comes at a time when the monarchy, and Camilla’s place in it, are in a generational transition. As Queen Elizabeth II, 96, soldiers on during her twilight years, other members of the royal household are taking on new roles with more responsibilities.

Six months ago, in a statement marking her 70 years on the throne, the queen expressed her “sincere wish” that Camilla would be known as queen consort when her son succeeds her. With those words, Queen Elizabeth sought to answer once and for all questions about the status of Camilla, who was initially shunned by fans of the late Princess Diana, Charles’s first wife.

The queen’s statement marked a big moment in Camilla’s transformation from the “third person” in the marriage of Charles and Diana to consort in waiting. Once blamed for the disintegration of the marriage, the public has grown to accept her in the years since she married Charles in 2005.

She’s taken on roles at more than 100 charities, focusing on a wide range of issues including promoting literacy, supporting victims of domestic violence and people who have osteoporosis. Known for having a wicked sense of humour, she has softened Charles’s stuffy image and made the heir to the throne seem less remote and more accessible.

Camilla alluded to her approach to royal life earlier this week during a reception and lunch sponsored by The Oldie magazine, which honoured her birthday.

In a nod to the magazine’s target audience, the duchess noted that she was born in 1947, the same year that Queen Elizabeth married her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. She paid tribute to him, and pledged to emulate his example.

“The Duke of Edinburgh’s philosophy was clear — look up, look out, say less, do more and get on with the job,” she said. “And that’s just what I intend to do.”

See the Duchess of Cornwall's style evolution over the years:

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His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”