CAMILLA Parker Bowles is the wife of Prince Charles and will likely be the next queen consort.
Here’s what we know about the royal family member who will sit next to the future king.
How old is Camilla Parker Bowles?
Camilla Parker Bowles, 74, was born on July 17, 1947, and grew up in East Sussex.
She married British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, and they had two children together.
The pair eventually divorced in 1995, with Camilla going on to marry Prince Charles.
She has been praised for saving Prince Charles from the depths of unhappiness – and even helping to save the monarchy.
When was her wedding to Prince Charles?
Camilla married Charles, the Prince of Wales, in a civil ceremony in 2005.
The couple wed at Windsor Guildhall, with a blessing then televised.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip did not attend the wedding, despite the Queen having consented to the couple’s marriage.
The pair’s wedding marked the first time a Royal Family member wed in a civil ceremony in England.
Who are her children?
Camilla is mother to Laura Lopes and Tom Parker Bowles.
Laura is a British art curator who married Harry Lopes in 2006.
The couple went on to have three children together including daughter, Eliza, who was a bridesmaid at Kate and Wills’ wedding in 2011.
Tom Parker Bowles, 42, is a food writer and critic.
The author of a number of cookbooks, he has also presented a number of foodie shows on TV.
He married fashion editor Sara Buys in 2005.
Charles’s sons William and Harry reportedly also adore their step-mother.
But author Christopher Andersen has claimed William and Kate Middleton were nearly “broken up by Camilla”, claims an author.
She is said to have wanted Prince Charles’ eldest son to break up with “pretty but dim” Kate, partly because of her “lowly” roots.
Could Camilla be Queen?
The Queen marked her Platinum Jubilee by saying: “When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes king, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me, and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as queen consort as she continues her own loyal service.”
After Camilla’s marriage to Charles in 2005, it was widely believed that she would be known as princess consort, but the Queen has paved the way for her to be called Queen Camilla.
Royal aides insisted, when she married Charles, that Camilla did not want to be queen and said originally that she “intended” to be known instead as Princess Consort – the first in British history – when Charles acceded to the throne.
But the wife of a king automatically becomes a queen consort and only a change in legislation will prevent her from doing so.
A royal consort is the spouse of the serving monarch, and their duty is to provide support and companionship.
They do not have a formal position but they do have considerable influence, and traditionally help the king or queen in public engagements.
