Andrew Parker Bowles

Early life and family

Andrew Parker Bowles was born on 27 December 1939 as the eldest of four children to Derek Henry Parker Bowles, a great-grandson of the 6th Earl of Macclesfield, and Dame Ann Parker Bowles DCVO, daughter of multimillionaire racehorse owner Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 4th Baronet. The de Traffords are notable recusants, that is, an old English family which had been Roman Catholic since 1632 after a couple of generations of being Protestants. His christening announcement in The Times listed his godparents as Sir Humphrey de Trafford, the Marquess of Hartington, Miss Mary de Trafford and Miss Swinnerton-Dyer. His parents were close friends of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Some sources have stated that his godmother was also the Queen Mother. Parker Bowles was a page at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. He is in the line of succession to the Earldom of Macclesfield. His sister Mary Ann is mother to Derek Paravicini, the blind autistic savant and a musical prodigy.

Military career

Parker Bowles was educated at the Benedictine Ampleforth College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) in 1960. He was aide-de-camp to the Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Bernard Fergusson, in about 1965. He was then Adjutant Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) 1967–1969. The regiment became The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) 1969, and he was the Adjutant of The Blues and Royals 1969–1970. Parker Bowles was promoted to major 31 December 1971.

He was squadron leader of "B" squadron in 1972 on Exercise "Motorman" in Ulster. Later he was Senior Military Liaison Officer to Christopher Soames, Baron Soames, when he was Governor of Rhodesia during its transition to the majority rule state of Zimbabwe in 1979–1980. He was staff qualified (sq), and became a Lieutenant-Colonel 30 June 1980. He was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery in Zimbabwe.

In 1981–1983, he was Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, and was commanding during the Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings, when men and horses from his regiment were killed and injured by a terrorist bomb. He was one of the first to the scene, arriving on foot after hearing the bomb blast, and his orders led to the saving of later famous horse Sefton.

From 1987 to 1990, he was Colonel Commanding the Household Cavalry and Silver Stick in Waiting to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. On 30 June 1990 he was promoted to brigadier, and was director of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1991–1994. He retired in 1994.

Parker Bowles held the following ranks:

Personal life

Parker Bowles was a player on the Prince of Wales' polo team in the 1970s and 1980s. He dated Princess Anne in the early 1970s.

In 1973, he married Camilla Rosemary Shand, seven years his junior after an on and off relationship in a Roman Catholic ceremony; formerly, she was a girlfriend of the Prince of Wales, so they had both dated royal siblings. They lived at Bolehyde Manor and later Middlewick House in Wiltshire and had two children, Tom and Laura, who were raised Roman Catholic. Laura attended St Mary's, Shaftesbury, a Catholic girls' school in Dorset, while Tom attended Eton College. Parker Bowles and Camilla divorced in 1995. A year later he married Rosemary Pitman (née Dickinson), who was first married to Lieutenant-Colonel (John) Hugh Pitman, a descendant of Sir Isaac Pitman, inventor of the Pitman system of shorthand (stenography). Andrew and Rosemary Parker Bowles attended the wedding of Camilla and the Prince of Wales, which took place on 9 April 2005. Rosemary died from cancer on 10 January 2010, aged 69.

His godchildren include the circus trapeze artist Lady Emma Herbert, who was a bridesmaid at his first marriage in July 1973, and Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne.