13 surprising things you didn't know about Queen Camilla

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
Camilla, the Queen Consort, married Prince Charles in 2005. Chris Jackson - Pool/Getty Images
  • Queen Camilla, who turned 76 on Monday, has been married to King Charles III since 2005.
  • She came from an aristocratic family with royal connections.
  • She has two rescue dogs, Jack Russell terriers named Beth and Bluebell.
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Queen Camilla's parents, Bruce and Rosalind Shand, were wealthy aristocrats.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's parents on their wedding day
British Army officer Major Bruce Shand and Rosalind Cubitt on their wedding day in 1946. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Camilla's father was a major in the British Army and heir to his father's baronry. Her mother, having been named "debutante of the year" in 1939, worked at an adoption agency and did charity work. They married in 1946.

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Camilla came from an upper-class family with royal connections.

Camilla Duchess of Cornwall as a young bridal attendant. A group of women wear long gowns and hold bouquets.
Bridesmaids Camilla (front row, left) and Annabel Shand (front row, right) at the wedding of Jeremy Cubitt and Diana du Cane in 1952. William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Four-year-old Camilla is pictured front left at the wedding of Jeremy Cubitt and Diana du Cane. She was a bridesmaid with her sister, Annabel.

Their great-grandmother Alice Keppel was the mistress of Charles' great-great-grandfather, King Edward VII.

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Camilla is the oldest of three children.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall walks between her sister Annabel and brother Mark.
Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, with her sister, Annabel Elliot, and her brother, Mark Shand, in 2010. Indigo/Getty Images

Her sister, Annabel Elliot, is an interior designer. She helped the royal couple redesign their Restormel Manor in Cornwall and Charles' Welsh estate, Llwynywermod Estate.

Her brother Mark, who died of a tragic head injury in 2014, was a travel writer.

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She was married to Andrew Parker Bowles from 1973 to 1995.

Camilla and Andrew Parker-Bowles on their wedding day
Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles on their wedding day in 1973. Wood/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Her now-ex-husband was an officer in the British Army and dated Princess Anne for a short time in 1970. A fictionalized version of Parker Bowles, played by Andrew Buchan, appeared on season three of "The Crown" on Netflix.

According to Sally Bedell Smith's 2017 biography of King Charles, he and Camilla reportedly began their affair in 1986.

Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles divorced in 1995, a year before Charles' divorce from Princess Diana.

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She has two children from her previous marriage, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes.

prince charles camilla and kids
Charles, then Prince of Wales, and Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, with their children Prince Harry, Prince William, Tom Parker Bowles, and Laura Lopes. Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/WireImage

Tom is a cookbook author and restaurant critic, while Laura works as an art curator. Charles is also Tom's godfather.

Camilla is two years older than Charles.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend day four of Royal Ascot 2023
King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend day four of Royal Ascot 2023. Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty Images

Camilla is 76 years old, while Charles is 74.

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Camilla's engagement ring from Charles belonged to the Queen Mother.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's engagement ring
Camilla's wedding and engagement rings. Peter Byrne - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images

Charles and Camilla got engaged in February 2005 and wed that April. Her engagement ring has a 5-carat emerald-cut diamond surrounded by three diamond baguettes on either side.

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Camilla was technically the Princess of Wales before she became queen, but she didn't use the title since it was so closely associated with Princess Diana.

princess diana and camilla 1980
Princess Diana and Camilla in 1980. Express Newspapers/Archive Photos via Getty Images

Duke of Cornwall is a title given to a reigning British monarch's oldest son. When Camilla married Charles, she took on the feminine version of the title as the Duchess of Cornwall instead of the Princess of Wales.

Princess Diana was still known as the Princess of Wales following her divorce from Charles in 1996. She died in 1997.

After Queen Elizabeth's death, Prince William and Kate Middleton became the Prince and Princess of Wales.

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She has five grandchildren and five royal step-grandchildren.

Prince Charles and Camilla on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with Camilla's granddaughter
Carole Middleton and Charles, then Prince of Wales, hold bridesmaid Eliza Lopes as Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, looks out from the balcony of Buckingham Palace following Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011. Antony Jones/Julian Parker/Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images

Her son, Tom, has two children, Lola and Freddy. Laura has a daughter, Eliza, and twin boys, Gus and Louis. Eliza was a bridesmaid at William and Kate's wedding.

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Camilla loves dogs, and she has two Jack Russell terriers named Beth and Bluebell.

Camilla Duchess of Cornwall with her dog Beth
Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, with Beth, her Jack Russell terrier in 2020. Steve Parsons - WPA Pool/Getty Images

She is a royal patron of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in London, where she adopted her dogs.

Camilla's rescue dogs were embroidered onto her coronation gown, a white coat dress by designer Bruce Odfield, People magazine reported.

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She's an avid fan of the outdoors and loves gardening.

Prince Charles and Camilla in a garden
Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall and Charles, then Prince of Wales, admire flowers at the Chelsea Flower Show. Pool Photograph/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Camilla used to enjoy fox hunting until it became illegal in 2005. She also told reporters on a 2018 visit to the Garden Museum in London, "I'd be out in my garden all day, every day if I were allowed. I love to get my hands dirty."

She runs an online book club called The Reading Room.

Camilla reads a book while sitting in a blue chair and smiling
Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, reads to children in 2020. Anthony Devlin -WPA Pool/Getty Images

Through The Reading Room, the queen shares her book recommendations and features discussions with the authors on the book club's Instagram account. Recent titles have included "Dark Tides" by Philippa Gregory, "Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo, and "The Fair Botanists" by Sara Sheridan.

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She embraces the label "feminist."

Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, speaks to staff at a women's charity.
Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, speaks to staff at Belfast & Lisburn Women's Aid, which supports those affected by domestic violence, in 2020. TIM ROOKE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

In a June 2022 interview with British Vogue, writer Giles Hattersley asked the then-Duchess of Cornwall if she identifies as a feminist.

"The Duchess finds my question about whether she is a feminist ridiculous: of course she is!" Hattersley wrote.

In the interview, Camilla also spoke about her work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault as a patron for organizations like SafeLives.

"I think we all know somebody who it's happened to," she said. "I was hearing it too often, from friends who knew friends, and I thought maybe I ought to look into it to see if there was somewhere for me to help."

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