Camilla Parker Bowles

**Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall** (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, July 17, 1947) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Charles, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, and should he succeed, Camilla would automatically become queen consort.

As the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla carries out public engagements, often alongside her husband. She is also a patron, president, or a member of numerous charities and organisations. Since 1994, Camilla has campaigned to raise awareness of osteoporosis, which has earned her several honours and awards. She has also raised awareness of issues such as rape, sexual abuse, literacy, animal welfare, and poverty

## Early life and education

Camilla Rosemary Shand was born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July 1947. She grew up in The Laines—an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex—and a three-storey house in South Kensington, her family's second home. Her parents were British Army officer-turned-businessman Major Bruce Shand and his wife Rosalind, the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe. She has a younger sister, Annabel Elliot, and had a younger brother, Mark Shand. One of her maternal great-grandmothers, Alice Keppel, was a mistress of King Edward VII from 1898 to 1910. On 1 November 1947, Camilla was baptised at Firle Church, East Sussex. Camilla's mother was a housewife, while her father had various business interests after retiring from the army. He was most notably a partner in Block, Grey and Block, a firm of wine merchants in South Audley Street, Mayfair, later joining Ellis, Son and Vidler of Hastings and London.

During her childhood, Camilla became an avid reader through the influence of her father, who read to her frequently. She grew up with dogs and cats, and, at a young age, learnt how to ride a pony by joining Pony Club camps, going on to win rosettes at community gymkhanas. According to her, childhood "was perfect in every way".

When she was five, Camilla was sent to Dumbrells, a co-educational school in Ditchling village. She left Dumbrells at the age of 10 to attend Queen's Gate School in Queen's Gate, South Kensington. Her classmates at Queen's Gate knew her as "Milla"; her fellow pupils included the singer Twinkle, who described her as a girl of "inner strength" exuding "magnetism and confidence". One of the teachers at the school, the writer Penelope Fitzgerald, who taught French, remembered Camilla as "bright and lively". Camilla left Queen's Gate with one O-level in 1964; her parents did not make her stay long enough for A-levels. Aged 16, she travelled to attend the Mon Fertile finishing school in Tolochenaz, Switzerland. After completing her course in Switzerland, she made her own decision and travelled to France to study French and French literature at the University of London Institute in Paris for six months.

On 25 March 1965, Camilla was a debutante in London, one of 311 that year. After moving from home, she shared a small flat in Kensington with her friend Jane Wyndham, niece of decorator Nancy Lancaster. She later moved into a larger flat in Belgravia, which she shared with her landlady Lady Moyra Campbell, the daughter of the Duke of Abercorn, and later with Virginia Carington, daughter of the politician Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington. Virginia was married to Camilla's uncle Henry Cubitt from 1973 until 1979 (and in 2005 became a special aide to Camilla and Prince Charles). Camilla worked as a secretary for a variety of firms in the West End, and was later employed as a receptionist by the decorating firm Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler in Mayfair. She was reportedly fired from the job after "she came in late having been to a dance". She became a passionate horse-rider, and frequently attended equestrian activities. She also had a passion for painting, which eventually led to her private tutoring with an artist, although most of her work "ended up in the bin". Other interests were fishing, horticulture and gardening

## Marriages and children

### First marriage

In the late 1960s, Camilla met Andrew Parker Bowles (then a Guards officer and lieutenant in the Blues and Royals) through his younger brother, Simon Parker Bowles, who worked for her father's wine firm in Mayfair. After an on-and-off relationship for years, Andrew and Camilla's engagement was announced in *The Times* in 1973. Sally Bedell Smith claimed that the announcement was sent out by the pair's parents without their knowledge, which forced Andrew to propose. They married on 4 July 1973 that year in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, in London. Camilla was 25 years old and Parker Bowles 33. Her wedding dress was designed by British fashion house Bellville Sassoon, and the bridesmaids included Parker Bowles' goddaughter Lady Emma Herbert. It was considered the "society wedding of the year" with 800 guests. Royal guests present at the ceremony and reception included Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.

The couple made their home in Wiltshire, purchasing Bolehyde Manor in Allington and later Middlewick House in Corsham. They had two children: Tom (born 18 December 1974), who is a godson of Prince Charles, and Laura (born 1 January 1978). Both children were brought up in their father's Roman Catholic faith, particularly during the lifetime of their paternal grandmother Ann Parker Bowles; however, Camilla remained an Anglican and did not convert to Roman Catholicism. Laura attended a Catholic girls' school, but married in an Anglican church; and Tom did not attend Ampleforth College as his father had, but Eton – and was married outside the Catholic Church. Tom, like his father, is in remainder to the Earldom of Macclesfield.

In December 1994, after 21 years of marriage, Camilla and her husband both issued divorce proceedings on the grounds they had been living separately for years. In July of that year, her mother Rosalind had died from osteoporosis, and her father later described this as a "difficult time for her". Their petition was heard and granted in January 1995 at the High Court Family Division in London. The divorce was finalised on 3 March 1995. A year later, Andrew Parker Bowles married Rosemary Pitman (who died in 2010).

### Relationship with the Prince of Wales

Camilla and Prince Charles reportedly met in mid-1971. Andrew Parker Bowles had ended his relationship with Camilla in 1970 and was courting Princess Anne, Charles's sister. Though Camilla and Charles belonged to the same social circle and occasionally attended the same events, they had not formally met. Their biographer Brandreth states the couple did not first meet at a polo match, as has been commonly believed. Instead, they first met at the home of their friend Lucía Santa Cruz, who formally introduced them. They became close friends and eventually began a romantic relationship, which was well known within their social circle. As a couple, they regularly met at polo matches at Smith's Lawn in Windsor Great Park, where Charles often played polo. They also became part of a set at Annabel's in Berkeley Square. As the relationship grew more serious, Charles met Camilla's family in Plumpton and he introduced her to some members of his family. The relationship was put on hold after Charles travelled overseas to join the Royal Navy in early 1973, and ended abruptly afterward.

There have been different explanations for why the couple's relationship ended. Robert Lacey wrote in his 2008 book *Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II* that Charles had met Camilla too early, and that he had not asked her to wait for him when he went overseas for military duties. Sarah Bradford wrote in her 2007 book *Diana* that a member of the close circle of his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten claimed Mountbatten arranged for Charles to be taken overseas to end the relationship with Camilla, to make way for an engagement between Charles and his granddaughter Amanda Knatchbull. Some sources suggest Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother did not approve of the match with Camilla because she wanted Charles to marry one of the Spencer family granddaughters of her close friend Lady Fermoy. Other sources also suggest Camilla did not want to marry Charles but instead wanted to marry Andrew Parker Bowles, having had an on-and-off relationship with Parker Bowles since the late 1960s, or that Charles had decided he would not marry until he was 30 years old.

Overall, the majority of royal biographers have agreed that even if Charles and Camilla wanted to marry or did try for approval to get married, it would have been declined, because according to Charles's cousin and godmother Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, some palace courtiers at that time found Camilla unsuitable as a wife for the future king. In 2005, she stated, "With hindsight, you can say that Charles should have married Camilla when he first had the chance. They were ideally suited, we know that now. But it wasn't possible."[...] "it wouldn't have been possible, not then."[...] Nevertheless, they remained friends. In August 1979, Lord Mountbatten was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Charles was grief-stricken by his death, and reportedly relied heavily on Camilla for solace. During this period rumours began circulating, among close friends of the Parker Bowleses and in polo-playing communities, that they had rekindled their intimate relationship. A source close to Camilla confirmed that by 1980 they had indeed rekindled as lovers. There are also claims by royal staff that it occurred earlier. Reportedly, Camilla's husband approved of the affair, while he had numerous lovers throughout their marriage. Nevertheless, Charles soon began a relationship with Lady Diana Spencer, and the two married in 1981.

The affair became public knowledge in the press a decade later, with the publication of *Diana: Her True Story* in 1992, followed by the "Camillagate" tape scandal in 1993, when an intimate telephone conversation between Camilla and Charles was secretly recorded and the transcripts were published in the tabloid press. The book and tape immediately damaged Charles's public image. Meanwhile, the media vilified Camilla. In 1994, Charles finally spoke about his relationship with Camilla in *Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role* with Jonathan Dimbleby. He told Dimbleby in the interview, "Mrs. Parker Bowles is a great friend of mine...a friend for a very long time. She will continue to be a friend for a very long time." He later admitted in the interview that the relationship between him and Camilla was rekindled after his marriage had "irretrievably broken down" in 1986.

#### Image rehabilitation

Following both of their divorces, Prince Charles declared his relationship with Camilla was, and is, "non-negotiable". Charles was aware that the relationship was receiving a lot of negative publicity, and appointed Mark Bolland—whom he had employed in 1995 to refurbish his own image‍—‌to enhance Camilla's public profile. Camilla occasionally became Charles's unofficial companion at events. In 1999, the couple made their first public appearance together at the Ritz London Hotel, where they attended a birthday party; about 200 photographers and reporters from around the world were there to witness them together. In 2000, she accompanied Charles to Scotland for a number of official engagements, and in 2001, she became president of the National Osteoporosis Society, which introduced her to the public.

Camilla later met Queen Elizabeth II, for the first time since the relationship was made public, at the 60th birthday party of the former King Constantine II of Greece, in 2000. This meeting was seen as an apparent seal of approval by the Queen on Charles and Camilla's relationship. After a series of appearances at public and private venues, the Queen invited Camilla to her Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002. She sat in the royal box behind the Queen for one of the concerts at Buckingham Palace. Although Camilla maintained her residence, Ray Mill House, which she purchased in 1995, near Lacock in Wiltshire, she then moved into Clarence House, Charles's household and official residence since 2003. In 2004, Camilla accompanied Charles on almost all of his official events, including a high-profile visit together to the annual highland games in Scotland. Throughout, the media speculated on when they would announce their engagement and as time went by, polls conducted in the UK showed overall support for the marriage.

### Second marriage

On 10 February 2005, Clarence House announced that Camilla and the Prince of Wales were engaged; as an engagement ring, Charles gave Camilla a diamond ring that was believed to have been given to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, when she gave birth to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. The ring comprised a square-cut diamond with three diamond baguettes on each side. As the future Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the prospect of Charles marrying a divorcée was seen as controversial, but with the consent of the Queen, the government, and the Church of England, the couple were able to wed. The Queen, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams offered their best wishes in statements to the media. In the two months following the announcement of their engagement, Clarence House received 25,000 letters with "95 or 99 per cent being supportive"; 908 hate mail letters were also received, with the more threatening and personal ones sent to the police for investigation.

The marriage was to have been on 8 April 2005, and was to take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, with a subsequent religious service of blessing at St George's Chapel. However, to conduct a civil marriage at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue to obtain a licence for civil marriages, which it did not have. A condition of such a licence is that the licensed venue must be available for a period of one year to anyone wishing to be married there, and as the royal family did not wish to make Windsor Castle available to the public for civil marriages, the venue was changed to the town hall at Windsor Guildhall. On 4 April, it was announced that the marriage would be delayed by one day to allow the Prince of Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

On 9 April 2005, the marriage ceremony was held. The parents of Charles and Camilla did not attend; instead, Camilla's son Tom and Charles's son Prince William acted as witnesses to the union. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh did attend the service of blessing. Afterwards, a reception was held by the Queen for the newlyweds at Windsor Castle. Performers included the St George's Chapel Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, and Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott. As a wedding gift, The Marinsky Theatre Trust in St. Petersburg brought a Russian mezzo-soprano singer, Ekaterina Semenchuk, to the UK to perform a special song for the couple. Following the wedding, the couple travelled to the Prince's country home in Scotland, Birkhall, and carried out their first public duties together during their honeymoon.

## Tittles

* 17 July 1947 – 4 July 1973: *Miss* Camilla Rosemary Shand
* 4 July 1973 – 9 April 2005: *Mrs* Camilla Parker Bowles
* 9 April 2005 – present: *Her Royal Highness* The Duchess of Cornwall
	+ *in Scotland*: 9 April 2005 – present: *Her Royal Highness* The Duchess of Rothesay

Legally, Camilla is Princess of Wales but has adopted the feminine form of her husband's highest-ranking subsidiary title, Duke of Cornwall, because the title Princess of Wales became strongly associated with the previous holder of that title, Diana. In 2021, her husband became Duke of Edinburgh upon the death of his father, making her the Duchess of Edinburgh.

If Charles becomes king, the Duchess would legally and automatically become queen consort, in accordance with English common law. Clarence House stated on the occasion of their wedding in 2005 that she would adopt the style of princess consort instead of that of a queen, but there is no legal or historical precedent for such a title. In 2018, Clarence House removed the statement regarding Camilla's proposed style from its official website. In 2020, however, Clarence House confirmed that plans for Camilla to adopt the style of princess consort remained unchanged. In her 2022 Accession Day message, published to mark the 70th anniversary of her reign, Elizabeth II stated that it was her "sincere wish" for Camilla to be known as queen consort upon Charles's accession to the throne