Many people might not remember that Camilla was actually married once before to household cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles.

At this point, in the early 1970s, Camilla had already been introduced to a young King Charles III. However, Charles was still in the Navy and would spend months overseas on deployments. 

During this time, Bowles proposed to Camilla and she accepted.

While married to Bowles, Camilla had two children, Tom and Laura. At that point, Camilla was still very much involved in Charles’ life and even asked him to be the godfather to her first child, Tom.

Camilla and Charles continued to spend time together and were frequently photographed together. This was even after Charles met and proposed to Diana Spencer in 1981. 

Diana’s struggle with Camilla’s relationship with Charles was very obvious and claimed in interviews that she was the third person in the marriage.

Eventually, Charles and Diana got divorced in 1996 while Camilla divorced Bowles earlier in 1995.

At this point, resentment for Camilla was at an all-time high and the public hostility was overwhelming. However, despite that, Camilla chose to stand by Charles and the pair officially began going out as a couple. 

This only grew harder after Diana’s death in 1997. However, Charles was determined to keep Camilla in his life and very intentionally began to bring her back into the public’s eye.

In 2005, the pair were married in a small ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. 

While the debate and displeasure at Camilla have never fully evaporated, she has positioned herself as a key member of the royal family and is present at all important functions.

While Camilla has been in the royal family for a very long time now and has continued to participate and represent the family in many royal engagements, both big and small, Queen Elizabeth made an important change to what would be her future title in 2022. 

In February this year, Queen Elizabeth II said in a message marking the 70th anniversary of her reign that it was her “sincere wish” that Camilla will have the title of Queen Consort when Charles becomes king. 

This essentially ended years of debate as to if Camilla would get the title or if she would be given a lesser title of Princess Consort to appease those still upset at her role in the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage. 

Despite all the scandal that has surrounded Camilla, she has never allowed herself to simply be seen as King Charles III’s wife. Rather, she is passionate about many causes and actively raises awareness about them.

She is firstly passionate about osteoporosis, a condition that severely affected her mother and grandmother. She also shines a spotlight on issues such as domestic abuse, rape and sexual violence in her work.

Like King Charles III, Camilla is also a grandparent, with five grandchildren of her own.

Her son, Tom, has two children, Lola and Freddy, while her daughter has three children, Eliza, Gus and Louis. 

Eliza was even a bridesmaid for Kate Middleton’s marriage to Prince William in 2011 when she was just four years old.

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