And while there will be cake and conversation, there will not – on her express wish – be smartphones.
“Families don’t sit down any longer, do they, and have dinner,” she told the Daily Mail in an interview for her birthday. “Because I am ancient, in the old days we all sat down [to eat].
“Now everyone is on their devices. It makes me quite cross!”
She has, however, tried Tiktok with the help of her grandchildren
“Nobody particularly wants to be 75, but I can’t do much about it,” the Duchess has conceded. “I think you’ve just got to get on with life and make the most of what you’ve got left.”
And that, says friends, is the key to understanding the woman for whom “just getting on with it” has become almost a catchphrase.
“I’d describe her as authentic,” said one. “She knows who she is and that’s what you get when you’re with her.
“She’s terribly funny and doesn’t take anything too seriously. Ella she has a great lightening effect on everyone, whether ella that’s trying to convince Charles to take a holiday or putting nervous people at their ease on royal engagements. ”
For anyone who has followed the royal soap opera for years, the narrative of the Duchess’ about-turn in public affections is not quite new.
She won over the press some time ago, thanks to a combination of a savvy PR effort and a genuine warmth to journalists and photographers that is rare in royal circles.
A glimpse at the guest list for her Oldie Magazine-hosted birthday party this week – virtually every knight and dame on the British arts scene – illustrates her friends in high places.
Her loyal band of friends regularly speak up for her qualities, and a series of carefully chosen documentaries and guest editing roles have allowed viewers and readers to see her in action like never before.
But as far as she has already come – from the woman once so vilified that an apocryphal tale about her being pelted with bread rolls in a supermarket seemed all-too-believable – even seasoned royal-watchers have noticed a shift as she prepares to turn 75.
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