Camilla's presence signals shift in attitudes

Camilla Parker Bowles slipped into Westminster Abbey without ceremony or official welcome, although her presence carried enormous significance.

She attended the funeral as a guest of the Queen who made it known that as Mrs Parker Bowles knew the Queen Mother over a number of years, it was "appropriate" that she should be there. But she was not at the Queen Mother's 100th birthday party in 2000 and she was not invited to Prince Edward's wedding the year before.

Rather, her presence in the Abbey today suggests a dramatic shift in the Queen's attitude to Mrs Parker Bowles, which may indicate at last an opening of a path towards marriage to Prince Charles and a future role as his consort. Such a thing would have been unthinkable during the Queen Mother's lifetime, although Mrs Parker Bowles and her former husband Andrew were among her close favourites.

He is the Queen Mother's godson and escorted her to the races before her health failed.

Mrs Parker Bowles, in a broad-brimmed black hat and suit, sat in the Abbey with her sister Annabel and brother-in-law Simon Elliot, her close friend Sarah Keswick and Sarah Key, Prince Charles's physiotherapist who treated the Queen Mother in the last weeks of her life.

The Queen Mother well understood the relationship between Prince Charles and Mrs Parker Bowles and, as it blossomed following the death of Princess Diana, she invited them to spend time together at Birkhall, her home near Balmoral in the Highlands.

Prince Charles is likely to inherit the house and was travelling there tonight. Mrs Parker Bowles was expected to join him there.

The death of the Queen Mother has moved their relationship to the forefront of speculation about the future of the royal family and two polls since she died show that the prince's popularity has soared and suggest the public may be ready to accept a marriage. According to a poll in the Sunday People 57 per cent of those questioned said the couple should marry.

Mrs Parker Bowles has recently been seen to move closer to the centre of Charles's family. A few days before the Queen Mother died Mrs Parker Bowles was invited to Buckingham Palace for a gala concert to celebrate the 75th birthday of Mstislav Rostropovich, the celebrated cellist and conductor. It was the first time she had attended an official function at the palace in the presence of the Queen.