Who is Queen Camilla's ex-husband, and who are the Parker Bowles family?

Camilla was initially cast as the villain by royal watchers when details of her affair with the then Prince of Wales began to emerge during his marriage to Diana.

But as she has carved out her own royal role and been accepted by the rest of the King's family, the mood towards her has softened.

Though she is known by many as the wife of the King, and a future queen, most of her life was spent not being a royal - with a previous marriage to former British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles with whom she had two children.

Here we take a look at the Queen Consort and the Parker Bowles family.

Camilla, the Queen Consort

Camilla was born on 17 July 1947, in London, the daughter of Bruce and Rosalind Shand.

She grew up in rural Sussex and was educated at Queen's Gate School in South Kensington, before finishing schools in Switzerland and France.

She first met the future king on Windsor Great Park polo field in 1970. He had just left Cambridge University and was about to join the Royal Navy.

They became close but, after Charles joined the navy in 1971, the relationship cooled and Camilla married army officer Andrew Parker Bowles two years later.

Charles and Diana separated in 1992 with their divorce finalised four years later, while Camilla and Andrew announced their divorce in 1995.

Charles and Camilla appeared in public together for the first time in 1999 and they married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on 9 April 2005.

Camilla loves horses and supports several animal welfare organisations, as well as speaking on behalf of literacy charities, and victims of domestic violence.

She is also a favourite with royal reporters because she is cheerful and accommodating.

Her main role, however, is to support Charles in a way that enables him to take on his duty - first as heir to the throne, and then as King.

She is a confident royal host at Clarence House, and she is an assured representative when touring abroad.

Andrew Parker Bowles

Nicknamed the "brigadier", Andrew Parker Bowles was married to Camilla for 22 years before getting a divorce in 1995.

Mr Parker Bowles, 83, is a retired army officer, hence the nickname.

Born in 1939, Mr Parker Bowles is the eldest of four children of Derek Henry and Ann Parker Bowles, who were close friends of the Queen Mother.

At 13, he underscored his place in royal circles by serving as a Page of Honour at Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation.

In 1960, he was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards and began to rise in rank.

By 1990, he was promoted to brigadier and was director of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps from 1991-1994.

During his military career, Parker Bowles held the following ranks:

• 23 January 1962, he became a lieutenant
• 23 July 1966, he became a captain
• 31 December 1971, he became a major
• 1 December 1980, seniority backdated to 30 June 1980, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel
• 30 June 1987, he was made a colonel
• 31 December 1990, seniority backdated to 30 June 1990, he became a brigadier
• 27 December 1994, Mr Parker Bowles decided to retire

Did he date Princess Anne?

It's been reported that Princess Anne and Mr Parker Bowles briefly dated for a few years. However, it reportedly did not work out as he was a Catholic.

According to the writer of Prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes, Sally Bedell Smith, Mr Parker Bowles was "an unlikely candidate for marriage to a member of the Royal Family".

"Even when their romance eventually wound down, they remained lifelong friends," Bedell Smith writes.

Although their "romance" did not work out, the Princess Royal and Mr Parker Bowles remain friends to this day and he is often pictured with his god-daughter Zara Tindall.

Mr Parker Bowles met Camilla in the late 1960s and the two were said to have been dating for a few years.

In 1973, the pair decided to wed in a Roman Catholic ceremony.

They had two children, Thomas and Laura, born in 1974 and 1978.

However, after 22 years of marriage, the couple decided to divorce in 1995.

Andrew Parker Bowles marries Rosemary Pitman

In 1996, the year after his divorce, Mr Parker Bowles married Rosemary Pitman.

The couple attended the wedding of then Prince Charles and Camilla in 2005 in Windsor.

In 2010, Rosemary Parker Bowles died from cancer.

Who are Camilla and Andrew's children?

Thomas Henry Charles Parker Bowles

Thomas Henry Charles Parker Bowles, 48, is Camilla and Andrew's eldest child.

He was born on 18 December 1974 and then Prince Charles was named his godfather.

Tom is now a well-known British food writer and critic, appearing on programmes like Masterchef as a judge.

He has also released seven cookbooks and in 2010, he won the Guild of Food Writers for his book on English cuisine.

Making a name for himself, his first book called E Is For Eating - An Alphabet Of Greed, was published in 2004 and in 2008 he released his seventh book, Fortnum And Mason - Christmas And Other Winter Feasts.

In September 2005, Tom married Sara Buys in Oxfordshire's St Nicholas' Church. They later welcomed their two children, Lola and Freddy.

The couple split in 2018.

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Laura Lopes, formerly Parker Bowles

Camilla and Andrew welcomed their second child, Laura Rose Parker Bowles, on 1 January 1978, now named Laura Lopes.

Mrs Lopes became a successful art curator after studying the History of Art and Marketing at Oxford Brookes University.

After an internship at Peggy Guggenheim in Venice, Lopes co-founded London's Eleven Fine Art Gallery, where she was the director for 10 years.

In 2006, she married Harry Lopes, the grandson of Lord Astor of Hever, a Conservative member of the House of Lords until 2022.

They now have three children, Eliza, and twins Gus and Louis.

The grandchildren

Gus and Louis were born in December 2009 - the twins are not often in the spotlight.

When they were born, a Clarence House spokesman said: "The whole family are thrilled and the Duchess [of Cornwall] is absolutely delighted by the news."

Freddy, born in 2010, is the youngest of the Queen Consort's biological grandchildren and is only a few months younger than twins Gus and Louis.

Lola Parker Bowles was born in 2007 and is the oldest grandchild.

Eliza Lopes was born in 2008 and is the eldest child of Laura and Harry Lopes.

She was a bridesmaid at Prince William and Kate's wedding in 2011, aged three.

Speaking to British Vogue last year, the Queen Consort opened up about how she loved spending time with her grandchildren and said: "I do Wordle every day with my granddaughter.

"She'll text me to say, 'I've done it in three', and I say, 'Sorry, I've done it in two today'. It's very satisfactory when it tells you how brilliant you are.

"It's very nice getting a text."