During her tour of America, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, took some hard knocks in the press for her wardrobe. “The leading man’s love interest needs to get better costuming,” Robin Givhan wrote in the Washington Post. Orla Healy, in the New York Post, wrote that the duchess “failed spectacularly in her attempt to wow Manhattan society with her sartorial splendor last night.”

But let’s look at the facts. Camilla is a British woman in her late 50s. She does not intend to be a trendsetter. She is not a style maven. And she has a very tough act to follow.

Given all that, she managed to show up in tasteful, age-appropriate style. The reddish suit she wore to the World Trade Center site was a good color for her and for photographs. The navy blue velvet dress she wore to the Museum of Modern Art was charming. And at the White House dinner, she looked elegant and relaxed in her dark jacket and long satin skirt.

Not everyone in the public eye wants to look like a sexy supermodel – and not everyone can. In her dress, Camilla seems to understand who she is and how to present herself. She appears comfortable and confident. That may not make for the best outfits, but it does make for respectable inner beauty that shines boldly past the critics.