Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Camilla Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III.
Camilla was raised in East Sussex and South Kensington in England and educated in England, Switzerland, and France. In 1973, she married British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles; they divorced in 1995. Camilla and Charles were romantically involved periodically, both before and during each of their first marriages. Their relationship was highly publicised in the media and attracted worldwide scrutiny. In 2005, Camilla married Charles in the Windsor Guildhall, which was followed by a televised Anglican blessing at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. From their marriage until her husband's accession, she was known as the Duchess of Cornwall. On 8 September 2022, Charles became king upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, with Camilla as queen consort. Charles and Camilla's coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023.
Camilla carries out public engagements representing the monarchy, often alongside her husband. She is also the patron, the 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 campaigned to raise awareness of issues such as rape, sexual abuse, illiteracy, animal welfare, and poverty.
Early life and education
Camilla Rosemary Shand was born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July 1947. Her family split their time between their country house – 18th century The Laines in Plumpton, East Sussex – and their London house in South Kensington. Her parents were British Army officer-turned-businessman Major Bruce Shand and his wife The Hon. Rosalind Cubitt, daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe. Camilla 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, Shand was baptised at St. Peter's Church, Firle, East Sussex.
Shand's mother was a charity worker who during the 1960s and 1970s volunteered at the Chailey Heritage Foundation (which helps young children with disabilities) near their Sussex home. 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, Shand 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 by joining Pony Club camps, going on to win rosettes at community gymkhanas. According to her, childhood "was perfect in every way". Biographer Gyles Brandreth describes her background and childhood:
When she was five, Shand was sent to Dumbrells, a co-educational school in Ditchling village. From the age of 10, she attended Queen's Gate School near her London home. Her classmates at Queen's Gate knew her as "Milla"; her fellow pupils included the singer Twinkle (Lynn Ripley), 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 Shand as "bright and lively". Shand 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 attended the Mon Fertile finishing school in Tolochenaz, Switzerland. After completing her course there, she studied French and French literature at the University of London Institute in Paris for six months.
On 25 March 1965, Shand 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 later married Shand's uncle Henry Cubitt (1973 until 1979), and in 2005 became a special aide to Camilla and Charles. Shand worked as a secretary for a variety of firms in the West End, and as a receptionist for 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".