Enlarge image
Queen Camilla with Camilla Barbie doll: "You made me 50 years younger"
Photo: Paul Grover / AFP
Many women have modeled for Barbie dolls.
The developer of the AstraZeneca vaccine, for example, or tennis professional Naomi Osaka.
Now a woman over the age of 75 is finally being honored with her own Barbie: Queen Camilla.
The Barbie doll in her image was presented to Queen Camilla for her work as President of the Women of the World Foundation at Buckingham Palace.
“You made me about 50 years younger,” was her laughing comment about the doll.
The Camilla Barbie wears a miniature version of one of the Queen's outfits: a blue dress by Fiona Clare, a black women's cape by Amanda Wakeley and black boots by Eliot Zed.
Belgium's Queen Mathilde and actress Helen Mirren were also present at the ceremonial handover of the doll.
Mirren appears as the narrator in the “Barbie” film with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
Career as a public lightning rod
The Camilla Barbie definitely has the potential to inspire little girls.
After all, the Queen has had a “long career as a public lightning rod,” as DER SPIEGEL wrote on the occasion of her coronation in May last year.
When even Camilla's name was mentioned in television debates about the royal family in the late 1990s, the audience sometimes booed loudly.
But the person who was once insulted as a Rottweiler or a scarecrow has managed to change her image.
She may not be loved dearly by the British, but she is at least respected.
In this respect, the Camilla Barbie would certainly have good sales opportunities.
But Barbie manufacturer Mattel seems to be skeptical: The Camilla Barbie is a one-off, so it won't go on sale.
vet/AFP