Königin Camilla

Camilla, born Camilla Rosemary Shand on 17 July 1947 in London, has been Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms since 2022 as the wife of King Charles III. She grew up in comfortable circumstances between a country estate in East Sussex and a house in South Kensington. Her father, Bruce Shand, first served as an officer in the British Army and later became a wine merchant, while her mother, Rosalind Cubitt, was a homemaker. Camilla had a younger sister, Sonia, and a younger brother, Mark, who worked as an environmentalist and travel writer and died in 2014. Through her maternal great-grandmother, she was also connected to the court of King Edward VII. From childhood, Camilla was interested in literature, animals, and riding. She took part in Pony Club competitions and won prizes. She attended schools in East Sussex and London, later studying at a Swiss boarding school and spending six months studying French language and literature in Paris. In 1965, she was presented as a debutante in London. She subsequently lived with friends in Kensington and Belgravia and worked as a secretary and receptionist at a respected interior-design firm. Riding remained her chief passion, though she was also interested in painting, fishing, plants, and gardening. In the late 1960s, Camilla met the army officer Andrew Parker-Bowles. After an intermittent relationship, they married in London on 4 July 1973. The wedding was treated by the media as a major society event attended by members of the royal family. The couple lived in Wiltshire and had two children: Tom, born in 1974, and Laura, born in 1978. The children were raised largely in the Roman Catholic tradition of their father’s family, while Camilla remained Anglican. After more than two decades of marriage, the couple began divorce proceedings in 1994, and their marriage was dissolved in March 1995. Camilla had met Prince Charles in 1971. Their friendship developed into a romantic relationship known within their shared social circle. When Charles began serving in the Royal Navy in early 1973, the relationship initially ended. Later explanations varied; family expectations and the prevailing belief that Charles should marry an unmarried woman of suitable social standing were among the factors cited. They nevertheless remained connected. After Lord Mountbatten’s death in 1979, Charles sought comfort from Camilla, and by about 1980 they had resumed their intimate relationship. Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. His relationship with Camilla initially remained outside public view, but it became known in the early 1990s through a biography of Diana and the publication of a private telephone conversation. The scandal seriously damaged both their reputations, and Camilla faced intense public hostility. In 1995, Diana said that the relationship had contributed to the breakdown of her marriage. Charles and Diana divorced in 1996. A long-term effort then began to carefully reshape Camilla’s public image. She increasingly appeared as Charles’s companion, undertook her own public duties, and became particularly associated with raising awareness of osteoporosis. In 1999, the couple made their first official public appearance together, and acceptance of their relationship gradually increased. On 10 February 2005, the engagement of Camilla and Charles was announced. Their planned marriage prompted renewed legal, religious, and social debate because Camilla was divorced and had previously been involved in Charles’s marriage, but it received the support of Queen Elizabeth II, the government, and the Church of England. On 9 April 2005, Camilla and Charles married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. An Anglican service blessing the marriage followed at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Camilla became Duchess of Cornwall; in Scotland, she was known as the Duchess of Rothesay. She deliberately did not use the title Princess of Wales, which was associated with Diana. As duchess, Camilla undertook numerous public duties and accompanied Charles on visits to Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and other Commonwealth countries. She became patron or president of many organizations and established several causes of her own. Osteoporosis awareness was especially important to her after her mother’s death from the disease in 1994. She supported campaigns, organized fundraising events, visited medical institutions, and spoke at international conferences. This work earned her several honors. Other major areas of her work include supporting victims of sexual and domestic violence, promoting literacy, animal welfare, and efforts against poverty and homelessness. She visited crisis centers, opened facilities for survivors of rape, and backed initiatives connecting victims with medical, psychological, and legal assistance. As an enthusiastic reader, she also promoted children’s literature and reading together. She founded the online reading club The Reading Room, later continued as the charitable organization Queen’s Reading Room, and supported libraries, writing competitions, and projects that connect children and older people through stories. After the death of Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, Charles acceded to the throne as Charles III, and Camilla became queen consort. She was crowned alongside her husband at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023. As queen, she has continued her public and charitable work, supported the King on state visits, and undertaken engagements independently when required. She replaced the traditional role of ladies-in-waiting with the more informal role of “companions of the Queen,” who assist her at official events but do not perform administrative duties. Camilla’s path to queenship was shaped by public criticism, family expectations, and a long reassessment of her reputation. Over time, a controversial figure became an established representative of the British monarchy, with her work defined above all by her commitment to health, education, violence prevention, animal welfare, and literature.