Queen Camilla has made a rare public appearance with her husband at a glittering party for their famous food critic son.
Camilla, 77, beamed as she wore a chic polka dot dress and was snapped alongside Andrew Parker Bowles at the launch party of a new cookbook written by their son Tom Parker Bowles. The Queen was married to Andrew for 22 years until their divorce in 1995 and has appeared to have remained on friendly terms with him.
Just last year, the 84-year-old former cavalry officer, who is now dating TV host Anne Robinson, was at her current husband King Charles’ Coronation with the pair once described as still being “joined at the hip”. Also joining them at the party last night was their daughter Laura Lopes, Camilla’s sister Annabel Elliot and other well-known faces including Jemima Khan and celebrity make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury.
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Tom’s new book is called ‘Cooking and The Crown: Royal Recipes From Queen Victoria To King Charles III’ and contains a string of royal-inspired recipes such as Queen Camilla’s porridge and George V’s curry.
Camilla is extremely close to food critic son Tom and art curator daughter Laura with them proudly supporting her at last year’s Coronation. She also remains close to her former husband with a friend of his previously telling The Times: “They are joined at the hip. He arranges so much for her. They have lunch together the whole time. He’s right in there. He was always, and still is, Camilla’s co-conspirator.”
Andrew’s friendship with King Charles also goes back several decades and they even played polo on the same team, with the King a godfather to Tom. However, Camilla isn’t the only one to have been a romantic partner of Andrew.
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Prior to marrying Camilla, he had a brief romance with Princess Anne in June 1970 after bonding over a shared love of horses. They didn’t make it official though, and author Sally Bedell Smith suggests this was because Andrew was Catholic, so “an unlikely candidate for marriage to a member of the Royal Family “.
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After their romance cooled, Camilla and Andrew began a relationship and Anne tied the knot with former husband Mark Phillips. Despite their marriages, Anne and Andrew remained close – with him even becoming a godfather to Zara Tindall. When Camilla later married Charles, the Queen Consort and Anne became sisters-in-law.
Back in May, his new relationship with TV presenter Anne Robinson was confirmed. Unconfirmed reports at the end of last year suggested the former Weakest Link host, 79, and the retired cavalry officer were dating. Robinson then confirmed they were, telling Saga magazine: “Yes. Full stop. Mind your own business.”
It had been a busy day for Camilla yesterday as earlier in the day, she joked about her ballet skills and that she had been “showed up” by dancers, during a visit to the English National Ballet (ENB).
She smiled as she watched dancers rehearse for their upcoming production of The Nutcracker during the visit to the company’s Mulryan Centre for Dance in east London. The Queen wore a light blue long-sleeved dress with a gold ballerina brooch and spoke about her love of dance throughout the visit with performers, tutors and the company’s directors.
In a short speech to the company and staff members, Camilla said she was ‘proud’ to have been named royal patron of the ENB earlier this year. She said: “I love ballet, in every form I love dance, so actually to be patron of this ballet – I’m patron of ballet schools, I do a bit of Silver Swans myself. The ladies today have rather showed me up. But, I do love it but it’s actually very exciting now to be able to say I am actually patron of a proper ballet.”