Camilla.Parker-Prince.Charles

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla Rosemary; née Shand, previously Parker Bowles; born 17 July 1947) is the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, and is the current holder of the titles Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay and Countess of Chester. Although Camilla automatically became the Princess of Wales upon her marriage to Prince Charles, she prefers to be known by the lesser title of Duchess of Cornwall, avoiding confusion with the Prince of Wales’s first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. She uses this title everywhere except Scotland, where she is styled Duchess of Rothesay.

* 1 Early life and first marriage
o 1.1 Relationship with the Prince of Wales
o 1.2 Second engagement and marriage
* 2 Duchess of Cornwall
o 2.1 Royal duties
* 3 Titles, styles, honours and arms; Charities and patronages
o 3.1 Titles and styles
o 3.2 Honours
+ 3.2.1 Honorary military appointments
o 3.3 Arms
* 4 Children
* 5 Ancestry
* 6 References
* 7 Bibliography
* 8 External links

Born at King's College Hospital, London on 17 July 1947, Camilla was raised opposite the Plumpton Racecourse, East Sussex by her parents, Major Bruce Shand (1917–2006) (a British Army officer turned wine merchant, as well as prisoner of war in World War II and recipient of the Military Cross and Bar) and The Honourable Rosalind Cubitt (1921–1994 eldest child of Roland Calvert Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe): her siblings are Mark and Annabel. She was christened on 1 November 1947 at Firle Church, Sussex, and her godparents were the Hon Harry Cubitt (her maternal uncle), Major Neil Speke, Mrs Heathcoat Amory, Mrs Lombard Hobson, and Miss Vivien Mosley Camilla attended Dumbrells School in Sussex, as well as Queen's Gate School in Kensington. She subsequently attended the Mon Fertile finishing school in Switzerland and studied at the Institut Britannique in Paris. Following her education, she worked for a year at the offices of designers Sybil Colefax and John Fowler. She also became an avid equestrienne and participated in fox hunting.

On 4 July 1973, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles, at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London, their bridesmaids including Parker Bowles' goddaughter Lady Emma Herbert. The couple had two children: Tom, born in the year after the marriage, who is a godson of Prince Charles, and Laura, born in 1978; both Parker Bowles children were raised in their father's Roman Catholic faith, although both were married in the Church of England. Andrew Parker Bowles initiated divorce proceedings against Camilla following the admission by the Prince of Wales that he had conducted a long-term extramarital affair with Camilla; the couple's divorce was finalised on 3 March 1995.

Camilla's maternal great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, formerly Alice Frederica Edmonstone, was the mistress of King Edward VII from 1898 to 1910.

United Kingdom and the
other Commonwealth realms
Badge of the House of Windsor.svg

HM The Queen
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

* HRH The Prince of Wales
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall
o HRH The Duke of Cambridge
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
o HRH Prince Harry of Wales
* HRH The Duke of York
o HRH Princess Beatrice of York
o HRH Princess Eugenie of York
* HRH The Earl of Wessex
HRH The Countess of Wessex
o Viscount Severn
o Lady Louise Windsor
* HRH The Princess Royal

* HRH The Duke of Gloucester
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
* HRH The Duke of Kent
HRH The Duchess of Kent
* HRH Prince Michael of Kent
HRH Princess Michael of Kent
* HRH Princess Alexandra

v · d · e

The relationship between Camilla and Prince Charles began when they met at a polo match in 1970. Though she became one of the numerous girlfriends of Charles, and he was said to have wanted to marry her, Camilla was seen by royal courtiers as an unsuitable match for the future king. Robert Lacey wrote in his 2002 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 in 1972. Reliable published reports indicate that they renewed their romantic relationship in the 1980s

The affair became public knowledge a decade later, with the publication of Diana: Her True Story, followed by the Camillagate, the Homewrecker scandal, wherein an intimate telephone conversation between Camilla and Charles was secretly recorded and the transcripts published in the tabloids. With the extra-marital relationship in the open, Diana gave an interview on the BBC programme Panorama, in which she blamed the relationship between Camilla, whom she privately referred to as "the Rottweiler and the Prince of Wales as the reason for the break up of her own marriage, saying: "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded. Though Camilla kept a low profile at this time, she became unpopular by these revelations It was confirmed by Charles in a televised interview with Jonathan Dimbleby that the relationship between him and Camilla resumed during their respective marriages. Following this, the Parker Bowles announced their own divorce in 1995; they had been living apart for some time, and a year later Andrew Parker Bowles married Rosemary Pitman.

Camilla occasionally became Charles' unofficial companion at events. This temporarily ceased at the time of Diana's death, but Camilla and Charles were photographed in public together in 1999. Though she maintained her residence in Wiltshire, Camilla then moved into Charles' household in 2003, resulting in decorative changes to both homes, though Buckingham Palace was explicit in pointing out that public funds had not been used for the renovations. In 2005, the media reported that Charles had also bought Camilla jewellery and a designer wardrobe. As the future Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the prospect of Charles marrying a divorcée was seen as controversial. Opinion—of both the public and the church—shifted, though, to a point where civil marriage was seen as an agreeable solution.[citation needed]