Queen Camilla
Queen Camilla
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Queen Camilla

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Queen Camilla

Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later 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 Charles'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 monarch and is the patron of numerous charities and organisations. Since 1994, she 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.

Camilla Rosemary Shand was born on 17 July 1947 at King's College Hospital, London. Her family split their time between their 18th-century country houseThe 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, Rosalind, 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.

Rosalind 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. Bruce 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.

On 1 November 1947, Shand was baptised at St. Peter's Church, Firle, East Sussex.

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:

Camilla is often described as having had an "Enid Blyton sort of childhood". In fact, it was much grander than that. Camilla, as a little girl, may have had some personality traits of George, the tomboy girl among the Famous Five, but Enid Blyton's children were essentially middle-class children and the Shands, without question, belonged to the upper class. The Shands had position and they had help—help in the house, help in the garden, help with children. They were gentry. They opened their garden for the local Conservative Party Association summer fête. Enough said.

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