Camilla, Queen, consort of Charles III, King of Great Britain, 1947-
Camilla (née Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles; born 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and 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, with whom she has two children. 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.[fn 1] 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.
As Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla carried 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.[1][2] On 8 September 2022, Camilla became queen consort upon the death of her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II.[3] Camilla Rosemary Shand was born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July 1947.[4][fn 2] She grew up in The Laines[5]—an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex[6]—and a three-storey house in South Kensington, her family's second home.[7] 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.[8] One of her maternal great-grandmothers, Alice Keppel, was a mistress of King Edward VII from 1898 to 1910. First husband Andrew Parker Bowles married on 4 July 1973 in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, in London.[ They had two children: Tom (born 18 December 1974), who is a godson of King Charles III,[42] and Laura (born 1 January 1978). 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. On 10 February 2005, Clarence House announced that Camilla and the Prince of Wales were engaged On 9 April 2005, the marriage ceremony was held. The parents of Charles and Camilla did not attend;[109] instead, Camilla's son Tom and Charles's son Prince William acted as witnesses to the union.
