Queen Camilla is celebrating her 78th birthday today. Born on July 17, 1947, in London, she was named Camilla Rosemary Shand. The royal, who wed King Charles in 2005, was raised in East Sussex and South Kensington in England and was later educated in England, Switzerland, and France.
As the monarch’s second wife, the royal has come a long way since being the “third person” in the now-King Charles’s first marriage to the late Princess Diana. As Queen, Camilla has gone from being one of the most reviled women in England to one of the hardest-working royals.
Here, the Express looks at 11 iconic pictures of the Queen – from her early relationship with Charles and her pre-royal days to becoming the Queen of England.
Camilla first met the then-Prince Charles in 1970 – after being introduced by a mutual friend, Lucia Santa Cruz. According to ‘The Duchess: The Untold Story’, author Penny Junor wrote exactly what the now-King first thought of his second wife. She wrote: “He loved the fact that she smiled with her eyes as well as her mouth, and laughed at the same silly things as he did. He also liked that she was so natural and easy and friendly, not in any way overawed by him, not fawning or sycophantic…” Their relationship came to a halt the following year and three years after they met, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973. The couple then went on to welcome two children together. Charles married Princess Diana in 1981, and later welcomed two sons – Prince William, in 1982, and Prince Harry, in 1984.
(Image: GETTY)
