HER ascension may have been 75 years in the making, but Camilla was always destined for a life of royalty.
From the day they were photographed standing deep in conversation on either side of a tree poignantly engraved with the lovers’ initials, Charles and Camilla were destined to be together.
Camilla Parker Bowles to become queen to marry King CharlesCredit: Getty
Charles and Camilla chatting after a polo match in 1975Credit: rex
But the king and his wife, who will assume the title of queen after the coronation, had a very different upbringing.
Charles was raised in the sweltering confines of palaces before being sent to Gordonstoun boarding school in Scotland, a place he hated so much he called ‘Colditz in kilts’.
By comparison, Camilla said her childhood was “perfect in every way.”
There is no doubt that the idyllic years of growing up gave Camilla her easy, down-to-earth manner that the King is said to admire so much.
£3 million family estate
Camilla grew up on a £3m family estate in SussexCredit: rex
Camilla, 4, and Annabel, 3, were bridesmaids at Jeremy Cubitt’s weddingCredit: Getty
Queen Camilla grew up on a £3 million family estate in Sussex called The Laines in Plumpton, famous for its racecourse and country college.
The estate featured a greenhouse tennis court and 5.27 acres of land. It was decorated with old heavy wood furniture and antiques that were all the rage in the 40’s and 50’s.
More than 50 miles from London, young Camilla enjoyed the simple pleasures of her generation’s youth, such as garden games, reading and drawing.
The late father inspired a love of reading
Camilla’s father, Major Bruce Shand, inspired her love of reading.
Camilla, four and a half years old, with her sister Annabel in 1952Credit: rex
The Queen has previously spoken about how her father, Major Bruce Shand, a decorated World War II hero, inspired her love of reading with bedtime stories.
Camilla described her father, who died in 2006 aged 89, as a “brilliant storyteller” who “read to us every night and transported us to different worlds.”
Major Shand was awarded two military crosses during World War II.
He joined the army as a cavalry officer with the 12th Lancers in 1937.
While being awarded his first military medal from a campaign in France, Camilla’s father met Churchill while serving in North Africa.
The Prime Minister saw his medal and told him: “You are a very young man (to have won medals). How splendid. But you look so skinny.
Returning home, Commander Shand and his wife Rosalind, who had worked for an adoption agency before getting married, soon became parents.
‘haunted childhood’
Camila with her sister AnnabelCredit: rex
Camilla with her siblings Mark and AnnabelCredit: rex
Camilla was born two years after the 1947 conflict at King’s College Hospital in London.
She went to a normal elementary school near her family home.
His sister Annabel was born two years later, and his brother Mark followed in 1951.
Sadly, he died after sustaining a head injury in a fall in 2014, leaving the future Queen devastated.
Annabel described how her mother Rosalind, a member of the Cubitt building family, was a very warm person.
She told Vanity Fair magazine: “We had this haunted childhood.
“Unlike many of our generation, we had this incredibly warm and easy relationship with our parents.
“We didn’t have babysitters. All of our friends growing up would be immediately drawn to my mother. She was completely direct and one of the warmest and kindest people.”
meeting carlos
Camilla with Charles and his brother Andrew at the Royal Opera HouseCredit: rex
The children were sent to an ordinary grammar school, the Dumbrells in the village of Ditchling, three miles from the family home.
Camilla was sent to Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington, an all-girls fashion school before attending graduate schools in Switzerland and France.
She shared a flat in London with friends where she enjoyed the life of a young debutante.
In 1970, Camilla met Prince Charles at a polo match.
It was there that she is said to have told him, “You know my great-grandmother was your great-great-grandfather’s mistress, so what do you think?”
The rest, as they say, is history.
