Others put the Duchess’s reinstatement down to Queen Camilla’s influence, with insiders suggesting she was the one who helped bring her back into the fold. “I see Camilla’s fine hand in all of this,” says Christopher Andersen, author of The King: The Life of Charles III. “People forget that, unlike Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, Fergie is a bona fide aristocrat. Her family tree is chock-a-block with barons, earls and viscounts. In other words, like Camilla, who is the granddaughter of a baron, Fergie fits right in. She and Queen Camilla also share the same raucous sense of humour and outwardly appear very down to earth.” And of course, Camilla also knows what it feels like to be left out in the cold by the royals. “The current King and Queen believe in forgiveness,” says Joseph. “Camilla is not a woman to hold grudges and she, more than anyone, understands what it is like to face public criticism.”