Camilla Parker Bowles

Camilla Shand was born on July 17, 1947 in London.

The daughter of Bruce and Rosalind Shand, she grew up on a country estate in Sussex and was educated at the Queens Gate School in South Kensington before going to finishing school in Switzerland and France.

Legend has it that romance blossomed between Camilla and Prince of Wales in 1972, a year after meeting on the polo field at Windsor Great Park and became great friends with the young Prince.

However, despite the romance, there was no offer of marriage and Camilla married the cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, shortly after Prince Charles was sent away on an overseas naval mission.

The couple have two children, Tom, born in 1975, and Laura, who is four years younger.

Retreated

Despite being married, Camilla remained one of Charles' most trusted friends and legend has it that she helped the Prince to choose a suitable wife - Lady Diana Spencer.

But the relationship between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles led to a great deal of tension in the Prince's fairytale marriage, and in 1994 Charles admitted adultery on national television.

Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles divorced in 1995, with the cavalry officer re-marrying Virginia Pitman just a year later.

Mrs Parker Bowles retreated from public life after being vilified in the press, but has slowly emerged as Prince Charles' companion.

She joined his sons on a Mediterranean cruise in August 1999 and in the same year was photographed with him for the first time at the Ritz in London.