Dare we call Queen Camilla the, uh, queen of conscious uncoupling? Because among the 2,200 at her and husband King Charles III‘s May 6 coronation at London’s Westminster Abbey was her former spouse, Andrew Parker Bowles.
The pair—who were wed from 1973 to 1995 and share son Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes—have remained close in the decades since their split paved the way for Camilla, 75, to reunite with the future monarch, 74. The retired British army officer (who also briefly dated Charles’ sister Princess Anne) even attended Charles and Camilla’s 2005 wedding with wife Rosemary Parker Bowles.
“Everybody loves Andrew. He’s a real charmer,” Camilla’s friend, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, recently told The Times of the former spouses’ close relationship. “Andrew will ring her up and tell her when she’s got something wrong and she’ll ring him up and say when he’s misbehaving. Through adversity, they’ve kept a really good family ethic. It helps with their children and grandchildren.”
