Andrew Parker Bowles

Brigadier Andrew Henry Parker Bowles OBE (born 27 December 1939)[1] is a retired British Army officer. He is the former husband of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, a member of the British royal family.

Andrew Parker Bowles OBE
Born	Andrew Henry Parker Bowles (1939-12-27) 27 December 1939 Surrey, England
Spouse(s)	Camilla Shand ​ ( m. 1973; div. 1995) Rosemary Pitman ​ ( m. 1996; died 2010)
Children	Tom Parker Bowles Laura Lopes
Parent(s)	Derek Parker Bowles Ann de Trafford
Relatives	Derek Paravicini (nephew)

Early life and family

Andrew Parker Bowles was born on 27 December 1939 as the eldest of four children to Derek Henry Parker Bowles, a great-grandson of the 6th Earl of Macclesfield, and his wife Dame Ann,[2] 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, the Marquess of Hartington, Miss Mary de Trafford and Miss Swinnerton-Dyer.[3] His parents were close friends of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Some sources have stated that his godmother was also the Queen Mother.[4] Parker Bowles was a page at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[5] He is in the line of succession to the Earldom of Macclesfield.[6] His sister Mary Ann is mother to Derek Paravicini, the blind autistic savant and a musical prodigy.[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.[2] He was then Adjutant Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) 1967–1969. 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.

He was squadron leader of "B" squadron in 1972 on Operation Motorman in Ulster. Later he was Senior Military Liaison Officer to Lord Soames, when he was Governor of Rhodesia during its transition to the majority rule state of Zimbabwe in 1979–1980. He was staff qualified (sq), and became a Lieutenant-Colonel 30 June 1980.[8] 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. 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.

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

Parker Bowles held the following ranks:

• 23 January 1962, Lieutenant[11]
• 23 July 1966, Captain[12]
• 31 December 1971, Major[13]
• 1 December 1980, seniority backdated to 30 June 1980, Lieutenant Colonel[14]
• 30 June 1987, Colonel[15]
• 31 December 1990, seniority backdated to 30 June 1990, Brigadier[16]
• 27 December 1994, retired[17]

Personal life

As an amateur jockey, Parker Bowles rode in the 1969 Grand National on his horse The Fossa, finishing the race in 11th place.[18] He played on Prince Charles' polo team during their younger days.[19]

Parker Bowles dated Princess Anne in the early 1970s.[20] In 1973, after an intermittent relationship, he married Camilla Shand in a Roman Catholic ceremony. She was a former girlfriend of the Prince of Wales, so they had both dated royal siblings. They lived at Bolehyde Manor and later Middlewick House in Wiltshire and had two children, Tom and Laura, who were raised Roman Catholic. 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, especially with Camilla's friends.[21][22] He and Camilla divorced in 1995.[2] A year later he married Rosemary Pitman (née Dickinson). Andrew and Rosemary Parker Bowles attended the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, which took place on 9 April 2005. Rosemary died from cancer on 10 January 2010, aged 69.[23]

His godchildren include the circus trapeze artist Lady Emma Herbert, who was a bridesmaid at his first marriage on 4 July 1973, and Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne.[24]

On 1 April 2020, Parker Bowles was diagnosed with COVID-19.[25]

Issue

Name	Birth	Marriage		Issue
		Date	Spouse
Tom Parker Bowles	18 December 1974	10 September 2005	Sara Buys	Lola Parker Bowles Freddy Parker Bowles
Laura Parker Bowles	1 January 1978	6 May 2006	Harry Lopes	Eliza Lopes Louis Lopes Gus Lopes

In media

Parker Bowles was portrayed by Andrew Buchan in The Crown (season 3) (2019) and by Simon Wilson in Charles & Camilla: Whatever Love Means (2005).

In 2003–04 Parker Bowles posed in his military uniform for the painting The Brigadier by Lucian Freud. In 2015 the work sold for $34.89 million at Christie's.[26]

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.
2. "Brigadier Andrew Henry Parker Bowles". The peerage. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
3. The Times: Andrew Parker Bowles, 13 February 1940, page 9. Retrieved 11 December 2009
4. "Charles and Camilla – family ties". BBC News. 10 February 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
5. "Dignified silence of the other half". halifaxcourier.co.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
6. "Earl of Macclesfield family update". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
7. "Meet Derek, the amazing human iPod". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
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. Junor, Penny. The Duchess. p. 49.
19. "Fears for health of further royals after Duchess of Cornwall's ex-husband contracts virus". Tatler. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
20. Barber, Lynn (21 October 2003). "'Quite grand, and she doesn't tip'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
21. Junor, Penny. The Duchess. pp. 53–54.
22. Junor, Penny. The Duchess. p. 68.
23. "Rosemary Parker Bowles dies after battle against cancer". The Daily Telegraph. 12 January 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
24. "Royal Christenings". Government of the United Kingdom. 8 April 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
25. McCarthy, Tyler (2 April 2020). "Duchess Camilla's ex husband Andrew Parker-Bowles tests positive for coronavirus". Fox News Channel. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
26. Conway, Clare (11 October 2019). "Andrew Parker Bowles on being painted by Lucian Freud". Tatler. Retrieved 6 June 2020.