King Charles' coronation weekend is off to a grand start. Today, Saturday 6 May, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were officially coronated at Westminster Abbey. Appearing on the royal balcony alongside their family members, Charles and Camilla celebrated a momentous day with the public.
But who was Camilla before she was Queen? Here's all you need to know about Camilla's family and her kids from her first marriage.
Who was Camilla married to before?
In the late 1960s, Camilla met Andrew Parker Bowles (then a Guards officer – a lieutenant in the Blues and Royals) through his younger brother, Simon, who worked for her father's wine firm in Mayfair. After years of being on and off, the couple got engaged in 1973. Rumour has it that their parents sent news of their engagement to The Times before it had even happened. And another fun fact: Charles and Camilla met in 1971, and apparently in one of Camilla and Andrew's 'off' periods the year before, Andrew started dating Charles' sister Anne.
Camilla and Andrew got married in July 1973 when Camilla was 25 years old and Andrew was 33. Queen Elizabeth's mother, her sister Margaret and her daughter Anne were all guests at the wedding. In December 1994, after 21 years of marriage, the couple officially divorced having spent several years living separately.
Who are Camilla's children?
During their marriage, Camilla and Andrew had two children – Tom, born 18 December 1974, who is a godson of King Charles III, and Laura, born 1 January 1978.
Tom, 48, is a British food writer and critic. He's written ten cookbooks and has appeared as a judge on various cooking shows around the world, including Masterchef.
On 10 September 2005, after five years of dating, Parker Bowles married Sara Buys, an associate editor of Harpers & Queen magazine and senior editor of British Town & Country magazine. The couple had daughter Lola in 2007 and son Frederick in 2010. The couple separated in 2018 and Tom began dating journalist Alice Procope, who died of cancer in 2021.
Laura is an art curator. In 2006, she married chartered accountant Harry Marcus George Lopes. The couple had birth to a daughter, Eliza, in 2008 and twin boys in 2009. Her daughter Eliza was a bridesmaid at Prince William and Kate's wedding in April 2011.
Will Camilla's children receive royal titles?
According to Majesty Magazine, King Charles’s stepchildren will not receive any new titles. Their names and positions in the family will not change and an expert on British royalty has confirmed that they will not have any security or royal protection either. But by the sounds of their upbringings, marriages and careers, they'll be alright.
Laura and Tom, along with Prince William and Prince Harry, will all attend the coronation on Saturday to celebrate their parents.
Who are Camilla's grandchildren?
Camilla is grandmother to five and stepgrandmother to five more, some of whom will have roles in the coronation. Her son Tom has two children – Lola, 15, and Freddy, 13 – with wife Sarah Buys. Freddy is a 'page of honour' at the coronation. Camilla's daughter Laura has three children – Eliza, 14, and 12-year-old twins Gus and Louis – with husband Harry Lopes. Eliza was a bridesmaid at Kate and William's wedding in 2011.
Camilla is stepgrandmother to Charles' five grandchildren: the children of the Prince and Princess of Wales – Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, eight, prince Louis, five – as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's two children – Prince Archie, three, and one-year-old Princess Lilibet.