Camilla Parker Bowles, is one of the most recognizable women in the Royal Family and has now become the UK's Queen upon the accession of King Charles III. Although she has been in the spotlight for many decades, there are many things that we don't know about the Queen - here is everything you need to know about her life, marriages and children.
As much as Queen Camilla is now often seen out and completing her royal duties there are still a few mysteries and interesting lesser-known facts about the royal you may not have heard before. From her numerous charitable causes and events to her unwavering love for dogs and horses, there are endless interesting facets to Queen Camilla's life both before and after she became a royal.
So with that in mind, here are 32 interesting facts you may not have known about our new Queen Camilla.
32 interesting facts about Queen Camilla
1. Her birthname and education
Before her first marriage and welcoming into the royal family, Camilla, Queen was born Camilla Rosemary Shand on July 17, 1947. Her parents, Bruce Shand and Rosalind Cubitt raised both Camilla and her two siblings in East Sussex and South Kensington. However, she did go on to be educated in not only England but Switzerland and France too.
2. She wasn't publicly pictured as a child
Camilla and Annabelle Shand, at the wedding of Jeremy Cubitt and Diana du Cane
Despite her family's strong ties to the Royal Family and the fact many of her relatives ran in similar circles to them, there are still very few photos of Camilla as a child that are available to the public. It wasn’t until she was a lot older that the then-Camilla Shand was even seen as a celebrity.
The picture above is a unique glimpse of the Queen as a child, here she is a bridesmaid with sister Annabel for their uncle Jeremy Cubitt's wedding in London.
3. Her wonderful upbringing and down to earth mother
Queen Camilla had a wonderful relationship with her parents. She shared a special memory regarding her mother with The Weekly in July 2022, just before her 70th birthday, "My mother was absolutely brilliant at making us speak to people.
"She used to have people to dinner; it didn't matter who it was, old or young, some of them we thought were incredibly boring, but she used to sit at the end of the table and say: 'Talk! I don't care whether you're talking about your pony or your homework, just talk!' She was also quite forthright and never minced her words.”
4. How she met King Charles
Our new King and Queen had quite the relatable meeting. The then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles reportedly met thanks to a mutual friend they had in 1971. Both in their early 20s at the time, it was alleged that Camilla had just ended her relationship with Andrew Parker Bowles who would go on to become her first husband.
5. The Royal Family didn't welcome her straightaway
When then-Prince Charles and Camilla Shand first met and hit it off, it was thought that the members of the Royal Family, including Mountbatten, told the future King to restrain from proposing to Camilla. According to reports, this was because they perceived her to be too “experienced” to become the future queen and that perhaps her not being from a titled family may have altered their perception of her.
6. Her first marriage
Her first marriage was to Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973. The couple had met in the 1960s thanks to Andrew’s younger brother Simon. Their relationship was on-again-off-again - however, when they did finally marry in ‘73, the ceremony at St James’ Palace was attended by the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Princess Anna.
7. Her longlasting friendship with Andrew Parker Bowles
After Camilla and Andrew's marriage broke down and they divorced, Andrew remarried his second wife Rosemary Parker Bowles. The couple attended the wedding of the now-King Charles and Camilla in 2005. And more sadly, both Camilla and Princess Anne attended Rosemary’s funeral in 2010 after she lost her battle with cancer.
8. Queen Elizabeth didn't attend Camilla and Charles' entire wedding
Both Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip didn’t attend the civil ceremony of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles's 2005 wedding at Windsor Guildhall. The ceremony, which was followed by a Service of Prayer and Dedication at St George’s Chapel near Windsor Castle, was followed by a service and reception hosted by the then King and Queen at their Berkshire home.
9. Her immediate title change post-wedding
Despite the controversy around the two’s relationship, their wedding in 2005 was met with extreme excitement by the press and many fans were delighted to finally see the two officially married. It was also after the wedding that Camilla formally became known as the Duchess of Cornwall and her future position as Queen was cemented.
10. Her pre-wedding jitters
It was hinted that on their wedding day in 2005, Duchess Camilla could not get ‘out of bed’ because of how nervous she was both because of the magnitude of the day and because she was recovering from a recent bout of sinusitis. However, nerves aside, everything went smoothly and the two have been happily married ever since.
11. Her children both have creative careers
Camilla has two children, Laura Parker Bowles and Tom Parker Bowles, both of whom are from her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles. Both children have followed rather creative career paths with Laura being an English art curator and Tom being a food writer and critic who’s regularly appeared on UK MasterChef.
12. She's a character in The Crown
If you’re a fan of the Royal Family then no doubt you will have heard of the Netflix hit series The Crown. Camilla’s character appeared in seasons three and four of the show and is played by Emerald Fennell, most commonly known for her 2020 hit movie, Promising Young Woman. It was her early life and relationship with Prince Charles that the show covered, with a certain plotline that depicted Princess Diana and Camilla were close enough to have lunch together and help each other with public life. There have however been consistent disputes as to how accurate The Crown truly is.
13. Her potential friendship with Princess Diana
Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker Bowles at Ludlow Races
Although it can’t be confirmed there are photos of young Camilla and Diana at numerous events together which could in turn suggest that the two had some kind of friendship or at the least acquaintanceship. There hasn’t been any official confirmation of this.
14. The reason she was previously the Queen Consort
The reason she was first known as Queen Consort and not Queen is because of the circumstances under which she and King Charles became the UK’s new monarchs. She is now known simply as Queen Camilla, this title change took place swiftly after the coronation of King Charles in 2023.
15. Her height compared to other royals
Queen Camilla is of average height, despite her exact height not being known there have been reports over the years that have suggest she is around 5ft8 inches or 5ft6 inches tall. She’s taller than her sister-in-law Sophie, Countess of Wessex who stands at around 5ft5 however she is shorter than stepdaughter-in-law Kate Middleton, who’s reportedly around 5ft9.
16. Numerous members of her family have creative careers
Not only do Queen Camilla’s children both have creative career paths but so does her sister Annabel Elliot. Annabel is an interior designer and even helped Charles and Camilla redesign their Cornwall home, the Restormel Manor as well as Charles’ Welsh home the Llwynywermod Estate. Before Camilla’s brother Mark tragically died in 2014, he was a travel writer, proving that creativity most definitely runs in the family.
17. King Charles and Queen Camilla are distantly related
Queen Camilla is a little bit older than King Charles with just under a year between the two and they’re also very distantly related as they’re ninth cousins once removed. Alice Keppel, Camilla’s great-grandmother was a mistress of King Edward the Seventh who’s not only Charles’ great-great-grandfather but of course the son of Queen Victoria.
18. The wedding was meant to take place at Windsor Castle
The original plan for Queen Camilla and King Charles’ wedding was for it to take place inside Windsor Castle. However, the castle didn’t possess a licence that allowed them to perform wedding ceremonies and obtaining a licence would mean anyone could get married there. That’s why the 2005 wedding civil ceremony was instead at Windsor Guildhall with a marriage blessing being had in Saint George’s Chapel inside Windsor Castle separately.
19. Her personal connection to the National Osteoporosis Society
Camilla is involved with several charities however one especially close to her heart is the National Osteoporosis Society for whom she is a patroness. The reason for her connection with this charity is because of her mother and grandmother's unfortunate and painful deaths from bone disease. She has had a long-term interest in the charity and promotes research to fight and treat the disease.
20. She has a passion for literature
Not only is Camilla interested in several medical charities she’s also a passionate reader and a patroness of the National Literary Trust. Each year she launches and is involved with the Commonwealth Essay Prize which awards and celebrates the work of a young writer for a submitted essay on a specific topic. In 2023, Queen Camilla celebrated 140 years of the prize with the winners and various supporters. At the 2022 ceremony, the Queen paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth in her moving speech sharing how greatly missed her mother-in-law is.
21. She has a life-long love for horses
From being a child, Camilla has always loved and had horses. In 2023, she took over ownership of the late Queen’s famous racehorses. In the same year she admitted that she no longer rides horses due to her age but of course, still takes great interest and pride in hers.
22. She's a dog lover
It’s not just horses that Queen Camilla takes an interest in, she’s also a patron of animal welfare charities such as the London-based Battersea Cats and Dogs Home as well as the Brooke Hospital for Animals. She even adopted her Jack Russell dog from the Battersea Home and often takes time to visit and promote many other animal shelters.
23. She has several titles
Along with all her other titles, Queen Elizabeth also made Camilla a Lady of the Order of the Garter in her announcement on New Year’s Eve in 2021. During this announcement, Queen Elizabeth also introduced former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Valerie Amos into the Order. The members of the Order are there to honour those who’ve held public office or have contributed in any particular way to national life.
24. Her engagment ring is a family heirloom
Her engagement ring, which she received when then-Prince Charles proposed to her in February of 2005, is not only a stunning five-carat emerald cut diamond with a gold band but it also has a lot of historical significance. The ring previously belonged to the Queen Mother, which is King Charles’s grandmother.
25. She's genetically linked to Madonna
Interestingly, there are two famous pop stars that genealogical research has linked Queen Camilla to. Both Madonna and Celine Dion are descendants of the same French Canadian couple who lived in the 17th century. Camilla and the singers are also connected to actress Angelina Jolie too.
26. She reportedly watches The Crown
According to Vanity Fair royal reporter Katie Nicholl, Queen Camilla has actually seen Netflix’s The Crown and also planned on watching season four. A source told Nicholl, “I imagine she’ll be tuning in with a glass of red wine to watch it. She has a wonderful sense of humour and this won’t fuss her in the slightest.” In her article, Nicholl also said that it’s likely that the King Charles will have seen it too.
27. She used to ride to school on her horse
While talking to Vanity Fair about her 'idyllic childhood', Queen Camilla spoke about how she and her sister would ride their horses to school when she was a child. She noted how the activity was more Australian than English however in the summer she'd ride her horse, tie it up at school and then ride home back on it afterwards. She said, "It just shows how things have changed because in those days there was nothing on the roads."
28. She's a grandmother of five
From her two children from her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles, Tom and Laura, Queen Camilla has five grandchildren. Her son Tom and his former wife Sara have two children named Lola and Frederick, and Laura and her husband Harry have three children named Guy, Louis and Eliza.
29. She never had any ambition to become Prince Charles' wife
Although the public made several assumptions about the relationship between the then-Prince Charles and Camilla, according to royal author Christopher Wilson, Camilla never had any intention of marrying Prince Charles. Speaking on the Channel 4 documentary, The Real House of Windsor, he said, "Camilla saw life as Charles’ mistress as a bit of fun, something that would never be made public.” He went on to reveal, “I don’t think there was any ambition on her part to advance herself to become the wife of the Prince of Wales.”
30. She's a keen Abba fan
In December of 2022, Queen Camilla had a secret night out with her grandkids boogying to Abba at the Abba Arena in East London's Stratford where she enjoyed an evening at the Abba Voyage hologram concert. A royal expert, Rebecca English, said that Camilla's presence at the concert shows how she and King Charles are leading a more relaxed monarchy.
31. Her sister Annabel is her closest confidant
Over the years we've seen more and more of Queen Camilla's sister, Annabel Elliot and even more so since Camilla became Queen. However, the bond between the two has always been strong and perhaps without her sister Annabel, Queen Camilla may have never gotten out of bed on her wedding day. According to royal reporter Penny Junor, it took four people to get Camilla out of bed that morning and this reportedly included Annabel telling her sister, “Ok, that’s all right. I’m going to do it for you. I’m going to get into your clothes.” Annabel is also one of Queen Camilla's six "Queen's Companions" as opposed to Ladies-in-Waiting.
32. She's a great dancer
Whilst on a trip to visit The President and First Lady of Ghana, the then-Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla took to the dancefloor and showed off their surprisingly good moves! Camilla was seen swaying with the Ghanaian president whilst Charles was arm-in-arm dancing with the nation's first lady. Fans were thoroughly impressed with the two, especially Camilla.
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