Camilla missing from online photo album

Mar 3, 2006, 16:02 GMT

Britain's Queen Elizabeth has delivered an astonishing to snub to the Duchess of Cornwall by omitting her from an online photo album celebrating her 80th birthday.

The monarch - who was born on April 21, 1926 - has put together a collection of pictures and mementos for royal fans view, at www.royal.gov.uk/queen80, but there is no mention of her daughter-in-law Camilla anywhere on the site.

Surprisingly, the queen has included three photographs of the late Princess Diana - who Buckingham Palace has chosen to ignore since her tragic death in 1997.

The decision is a major embarrassment for Camilla's husband Prince Charles who is adamant his mother the queen does get on with his second wife despite reports claiming their relationship is frosty.

The first image of the Princess of Wales displayed on the website is of the christening of Prince Harry in 1984. It appears under the heading: 'Family Photograph Album, a Gallery of Images from the Queen's Family.'

In the second photograph, from 1989, a radiant-looking Diana, is pictured on the balcony at Buckingham Palace watching the flypast after the Trooping the Colour.

Also in the happy snap, are the queen, her husband Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and her sons Princes William and Harry.

Her Royal Highness has even chosen to include a photo of Prince Andrew's ex-wife the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, in the collection, causing further embarrassment to Charles and Camilla.

However, royal sources insist the omission of Camilla from the site should not be viewed as a deliberate snub by the queen to her son's wife.

A courtier told Britain's The Times newspaper: 'In two decades of her reign Diana was a huge and important part of the Royal Family. She is also the mother of two of the queen's grandchildren which is why she is represented.'

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