Andrew Parker Bowles

Last updated

Andrew Parker Bowles

OBE
Born
Andrew Henry Parker Bowles

(1939-12-27) 27 December 1939 (age 84)
Surrey, England
Spouses
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1973;div. 1995)​
  • Rosemary Pitman
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1996;died 2010)​
Partner Anne Robinson (2023–present)
Children
Parent
Relatives Derek Paravicini (nephew)
Military career
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1960–1994
Rank Brigadier
Unit
Battles/wars Operation Motorman

Brigadier Andrew Henry Parker Bowles OBE (born 27 December 1939) [1] is a retired British Army officer. He is the former husband of Queen Camilla, now the wife of King Charles III.

Contents

Early life and family

Andrew Parker Bowles was born on 27 December 1939 as the eldest of four children to Derek Henry Parker Bowles of Donnington Castle House in Berkshire, who was a great-grandson of Thomas Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield, and his wife Ann Parker Bowles, daughter of multimillionaire racehorse owner Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 4th Baronet. His christening announcement in The Times listed his godparents as Sir Humphrey de Trafford, William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington who married Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy (the younger sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy), Miss Mary de Trafford and Miss Swinnerton-Dyer. [2] His parents were friends of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Some sources have stated that his godmother was also the Queen Mother. [3] Parker Bowles was a page to the then Lord Chancellor Lord Simons at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. [4] He is an uncle of Derek Paravicini, a blind autistic savant. [5]

As an amateur jockey, Parker Bowles rode in the 1969 Grand National on his horse, The Fossa, finishing the race in 11th place. [6] He played on Prince Charles's polo team during their younger days. [7]

Military career

Parker Bowles was educated at the Benedictine Ampleforth College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) in 1960. He was aide-de-camp to the Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Bernard Fergusson, in about 1965.[ citation needed ] He was then Adjutant Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) 1967–1969.[ citation needed ] The regiment became The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) 1969, and he was the Adjutant of The Blues and Royals 1969–1970. Parker Bowles was promoted to major on 31 December 1971.[ citation needed ]

He was squadron leader of "B" squadron in 1972 on Operation Motorman in Ulster.[ citation needed ] Later he was Senior Military Liaison Officer to Lord Soames, when Soames was Governor of Southern Rhodesia during its transition to the majority rule state of Zimbabwe in 1979–1980.[ citation needed ] He was staff qualified (sq), and became a lieutenant colonel 30 June 1980. [8] In 1980 he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery in Zimbabwe. [9]

In 1981–1983, he was Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, and was commanding during the Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings, when men and horses from his regiment were killed and injured by a terrorist bomb.[ citation needed ] He was one of the first to the scene, arriving on foot after hearing the bomb blast, and his orders led to the saving of later famous horse Sefton.[ citation needed ]

From 1987 to 1990, he was colonel Commanding the Household Cavalry and Silver Stick in Waiting to Queen Elizabeth II.[ citation needed ] On 30 June 1990 he was promoted to brigadier, and was director of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1991–1994.[ citation needed ] He retired in 1994. [10]

Parker Bowles held the following ranks:

Relationships and children

His godchildren include the circus trapeze artist Lady Emma Herbert, who was a bridesmaid at his first marriage on 4 July 1973, and Zara Tindall, daughter of Princess Anne. [18]

Princess Anne

Parker Bowles dated Princess Anne for a few years, beginning in June 1970. [19] Parker Bowles's father, Derek, was a friend to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. [20] According to biographer Sally Bedell Smith, the relationship could not have been "very serious between Anne and Andrew because Andrew was Catholic," therefore any potential marriage was unlikely. [20] [21] The relationship ended sometime prior to Parker Bowles's engagement to Camilla Shand. Parker Bowles and Princess Anne remain friends. [22] [23] Their relationship was depicted in the third season of The Crown.

Camilla Shand (1973–1995)

In 1973, after an intermittent relationship, Parker Bowles married Camilla Shand in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Shand was a former girlfriend of the then-Prince of Wales. After marriage, the couple lived at Bolehyde Manor and, later, Middlewick House in Corsham, Wiltshire and had two children, Tom and Laura. Laura attended St Mary's School, Shaftesbury, a Catholic girls' school in Dorset, while Tom attended Eton College. Parker Bowles had numerous extramarital affairs throughout his marriage to Camilla, including with several of Camilla's friends. [24] [25] They divorced in 1995. [26]

NameBirthMarriageChildren
DateSpouse
Tom Parker Bowles 18 December 197410 September 2005
Separated 2018		Sara Buys
  • Lola Parker Bowles
  • Freddy Parker Bowles
Laura Parker Bowles 19 April 19786 May 2006Harry Lopes
  • Eliza Lopes
  • Louis Lopes
  • Gus Lopes

Rosemary Pitman (1996–2010)

Parker Bowles married his longtime companion Rosemary Alice Pitman (née Dickinson; 17 June 1940 – 10 January 2010) in 1996, a year after his divorce from Camilla. She was previously married to Lt Col John Hugh Pitman, with whom she had three sons. The couple attended the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, which took place on 9 April 2005. [27] Rosemary died from complications due to cancer in 2010. [28] Princess Anne was present at her funeral service at St Aldhelm's Roman Catholic Church, Malmesbury. [29] Camilla attended her memorial service at the Guards Chapel in March 2010.

Anne Robinson

In December 2023, it was reported that Parker Bowles was in a relationship with Anne Robinson. [30]

In the media

In 2003, Parker Bowles posed for the painting The Brigadier by Lucian Freud. In 2015 the work sold for $34.89 million at Christie's. [31] He was portrayed by Simon Wilson in Whatever Love Means (2005) and by Andrew Buchan in The Crown (2019).

Honours

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne, Princess Royal</span> British princess (born 1950)

Anne, Princess Royal is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King Charles III. Anne was born 3rd in the line of succession to the British throne and is now 17th, and has been, since 1987, Princess Royal, a title held for life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Camilla</span> Queen of the United Kingdom since 2022

Camilla is Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Phillips</span> English equestrian and former husband of Princess Anne

Mark Anthony Peter Phillips is an English Olympic gold medal-winning horseman for Great Britain and the first husband of Anne, Princess Royal, with whom he has two children. He remains a leading figure in British equestrian circles, a noted eventing course designer, and a columnist for Horse & Hound magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood</span> British princess (1897–1965)

Mary, Princess Royal, was a member of the British royal family. She was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, the sister of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and aunt of Elizabeth II. In the First World War, she performed charity work in support of servicemen and their families. She married Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles, in 1922. Mary was given the title of Princess Royal in 1932. During the Second World War, she was Controller Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood had two sons, George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, and The Honourable Gerald Lascelles.

Charles Edward Peter Neil Wood, 3rd Earl of Halifax,, is a British peer and Conservative politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British princess</span> Princess of the United Kingdom

The use of the title of Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is entirely at the will of the sovereign, and is now expressed in letters patent. Individuals holding the title of princess are styled "Her Royal Highness" (HRH). The current letters patent were issued in 1917 during the First World War, with one extension in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Shand</span> British Army officer (1917–2006)

Bruce Middleton Hope Shand,, was an officer in the British Army who served in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force during the Second World War. He was the father of Queen Camilla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles</span> 2005 British royal wedding

The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles took place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall, on 9 April 2005. The ceremony, conducted in the presence of the couple's families, was followed by a Church of England Service of Prayer and Dedication at St George's Chapel. The groom's parents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, did not attend the civil wedding ceremony, but were present at the Service of Prayer and Dedication and held a reception for the couple in Windsor Castle afterwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Parker Bowles</span> British food writer and critic (born 1974)

Thomas Henry Charles Parker Bowles is a British food writer and food critic. Parker Bowles is the author of seven cookbooks and, in 2010, won the Guild of Food Writers 2010 award for his writings on British food. He is known for his appearances as a judge in numerous television food series and for his reviews of restaurant meals around the UK and overseas for GQ,Esquire, and The Mail on Sunday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Lopes</span> British art curator (born 1978)

Laura Rose Lopes is an English art curator. She is the daughter of Andrew Parker Bowles and Queen Camilla, thus making her the stepdaughter of King Charles III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabell Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie</span> British courtier and author

Mabell Frances Elizabeth Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie, was a British courtier and author.

Mark Roland Shand was a British travel writer and conservationist, as well as the brother of Queen Camilla. Shand was the author of four travel books and as a BBC conservationist, appeared in documentaries related to his journeys, most of which centered on the survival of elephants. His book Travels on My Elephant became a bestseller and won the Travel Writer of the Year Award at the British Book Awards in 1992. He was the chairman of Elephant Family, a wildlife foundation, which he co-founded in 2002.

Alexandra Shân "Tiggy" Pettifer is a British former nanny and companion to Prince William and Prince Harry. She was a personal assistant to Charles III from 1993 to 1999. She has used her married name since her marriage to Charles Pettifer in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Households of the United Kingdom</span> Collective departments of the British royal family

The Royal Households of the United Kingdom are the collective departments that support members of the British royal family. Many members of the royal family who undertake public duties have separate households. They vary considerably in size, from the large household that supports the sovereign to the household of the Prince and Princess of Wales, with fewer members.

<i>Whatever Love Means</i> 2005 television film

Whatever Love Means is a television film about Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles. Directed by David Blair and starring Olivia Poulet and Laurence Fox, it premiered in December 2005 on ITV1. The story centres on Charles and Camilla's relationship in the early 1970s until 1981.

Rosalind Maud Shand was the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe. She was the wife of army officer Major Bruce Shand and the mother of Queen Camilla.

Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Mansel Miller, was a British Army officer and equestrian who served as Crown Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II from 1961 to 1987.

<i>The Crown</i> season 3 Season of television series

The third season of The Crown follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II. It consists of ten episodes and was released by Netflix on 17 November 2019.

<i>The Crown</i> season 5 Season of television series

The fifth season of The Crown, which follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, was released by Netflix on 9 November 2022. It was the first season of the series to be released following both the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 9 April 2021 and the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022; filming took place between the former and the latter's death.

<i>Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After</i> 1992 US-Canadian film made in England directed by John Power

Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After is a dramatic television movie of 1992 telling the real-life story of the failed marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales, and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.

References

  1. ↑ "Andrew Parker-Bowles (Lt-Col, ex-husband of Camilla". Royalist.com. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ↑ The Times: Andrew Parker Bowles, 13 February 1940, page 9. Retrieved 11 December 2009
  3. ↑ "Charles and Camilla – family ties". BBC News . 10 February 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  4. ↑ "Dignified silence of the other half". halifaxcourier.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  5. ↑ "Meet Derek, the amazing human iPod". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 May 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Junor, Penny. The Duchess. p. 49.
  7. ↑ "Fears for health of further royals after Duchess of Cornwall's ex-husband contracts virus". Tatler. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  8. ↑ Wilson, Christopher (2003). The Windsor Knot. Citadel. p. 81. ISBN   0-8065-2386-7.
  9. ↑ "Andrew Parker Bowles, Obe". harcourtdevelopments.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "Andrew Parker Bowles-Animalwarfund". animalsinwar.org.uk. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  11. ↑ "No. 42576". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 January 1962. p. 585.
  12. ↑ "No. 44060". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 July 1966. p. 8265.
  13. ↑ "No. 45564". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 January 1972. p. 88.
  14. ↑ "No. 48505". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 January 1981. p. 1198.
  15. ↑ "No. 50979". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 June 1987. p. 8355.
  16. ↑ "No. 52427". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 January 1991. p. 1043.
  17. ↑ "No. 53902". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1994. p. 54.
  18. ↑ "Royal Christenings". Government of the United Kingdom. 8 April 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  19. ↑ Barber, Lynn (21 October 2003). "'Quite grand, and she doesn't tip'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  20. 1 2 Weaver, Hilary (15 November 2020). "The Crown: The True Story of Princess Anne & Andrew Parker Bowles' Relationship". Elle . Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  21. ↑ Llewelyn, Abbie (13 June 2021). "Royal rules put Princess Anne's marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles 'out of the question'". The Express . Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  22. ↑ Strong, Gemma (17 June 2021). "Princess Anne reunites with ex-boyfriend at Royal Ascot: details". Hello! . Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  23. ↑ Hallemann, Caroline (18 November 2019). "Camilla's First Husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, Once Dated Princess Anne". Town & Country . Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  24. ↑ Junor, Penny. The Duchess. pp. 53–54.
  25. ↑ Junor, Penny. The Duchess. p. 68.
  26. ↑ "A Royal Romance Interactive Timeline". CBS News. 18 March 2005. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  27. ↑ Notices, The Telegraph, London, UK, 22 January 2005.
  28. ↑ "Rosemary Parker Bowles dies after battle against cancer". The Daily Telegraph. 12 January 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  29. ↑ "Princess Anne comforts Andrew Parker Bowles at funeral of his wife Rosemary". Hello!. 19 January 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  30. ↑ "Queen Camilla's ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles reportedly dating former Weakest Link host Anne Robinson". Sky News. 7 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  31. ↑ Conway, Clare (11 October 2019). "Andrew Parker Bowles on being painted by Lucian Freud". Tatler. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  32. ↑ "Annual Review 2008–09" (PDF). The Royal Veterinary College. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.