ANDREW PARKER BOWLES is perhaps best known for being the ex-husband of Queen Camilla but his royal connections go beyond just that.
Since her and Andrew’s split Camilla has gone on to become a member of the Royal Family thanks to her marriage to King Charles and Andrew has also gone on to find love again.
Who is Andrew Parker Bowles?
Andrew Parker Bowles is a retired British Army officer.
He was born on December 27, 1939, and is the eldest child of Derek Henry Parker Bowles and Ann Parker Bowles.
Andrew’s father was the great-grandson of Thomas Parker, the sixth Earl of Macclesfield, and his mother was the daughter of racehorse owner Sir Humphrey de Trafford.
Parker Bowles was a page at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth at the age of fourteen, a role he bagged thanks to the friendship of his parents and The Queen Mother.
He participated as an amateur jockey at the 1969 Grand National with his horse The Fossa, and finished in eleventh place.
Andrew attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served for 34 years in the military.
In 1960 he was commissioned into the Royal House Guards and from 1967 to 1969 he was the adjutant of the troop.
In 1971 he was promoted to major and he then was the Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment from 1981 to 1983.
Andrew was the commander in charge during the Regents Park Bombings, where men and horses were killed and injured by a terrorist bomb.
He was also awarded the Queen‘s Commendation for Bravery in Zimbabwe.
Parker Bowles retired from the army in December 1994, holding the title brigadier.
Who was Andrew Parker Bowles’ wife?
Andrew’s first wife was Camilla Parker Bowles, born Camilla Shand and now known as Queen Camilla and wife of King Charles III.
The pair married on July 4, 1973, in a Catholic ceremony at the Guards Chapel in London.
The Queen Mother, Princess Anne, and Princess Margaret attended the wedding, and the reception took place in St James’s Palace.
Camilla gave birth to their son Tom Parker Bowles on December 18, 1974, a year after they married, and four years later the pair had their second child Laura Lopes.
Andrew and Camilla divorced in 1995, after he had various affairs during the marriage.
He then married Rosemary Alice Pitman, who was previously married to Lieutenant Colonel John Hugh Pitman, in 1996 but she sadly died in 2010 to cancer.
In December 2023 The Sun reported that Andrew was dating former The Weakest Link host Anne Robinson.
The couple reportedly got together in late 2022 after being set up by a mutual friend.
A friend of the pair said: “They have judiciously avoided being photographed together as they both wanted to keep this quiet for as long as possible.
“Annie proudly tells everyone she is the daughter of a market trader chicken-seller and is as far removed from a toff as could be — frankly it beats any storyline The Crown could possibly come up with.
“Annie and Andrew get on splendidly — she makes him laugh, a lot, and he is one of the few people to get away with poking fun at her.”
How old is Andrew Parker Bowles?
As of December 2023, Andrew is 83 years old.
He was born on December 27, 1939, in Surrey, England.
What is the relationship between Princess Anne and Andrew Parker Bowles?
It has been rumoured that Princess Anne and Andrew were a couple for in the 1970s but split before his engagement to Camilla.
Biographer Sally Bedell Smith told Elle.com that the relationship could not have been “very serious between Anne and Andrew because Andrew was Catholic”.
Princess Anne and Andrew stayed friends after their rumoured romance and he was later named the godfather to Zara Tindall, Anne’s daughter.
Are Andrew Parker Bowles and Camilla still friends?
Andrew and Camilla have remained friends despite getting divorced in 1995.
Parker Bowles attended the wedding of Camilla and King Charles in Windsor in 2005 and he was also present at the King’s Coronation in May 2023.
When Andrew’s second wife Rosemary died, Camilla attended a memorial service for her.