Camilla at 77: Her credentials for joining the Royal Family were impeccable, but Camilla had to survive a torrent of abuse to get there – and this year she has been King Charles’ rock, writes BRIAN HOEY

As she reaches 77 today, Camilla has a great deal to look back on in just the past year.

The Coronation in Westminster Abbey – where our Queen wore a dazzling array of diamonds and other jewels as she was crowned alongside her husband King Charles – was the crowning glory (excuse the pun) of her life.

But 2024 has brought great struggle too as she has seen both her husband and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, be diagnosed with cancer.

Now, as the King continues a roster of royal duties that signal his health is stable, and as Kate also makes some public appearances amid her own ongoing treatment, Camilla may be feeling that things are on the up.

She may also be reflecting on how, although it took her 30 years, she finally married the love of her life – after both she and Charles had wed other people, raised families and got divorced.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on May 6, 2023, following his Coronation in Westminster Abbey

Prince Charles and Camilla announced their engagement in February 2005. Above: Camilla shows off her engagement ring

They became involved in the most scandalous royal affair of recent times and survived the torrent of abuse that was aimed at them following the death of Princess Diana, the most famous woman in the world.

Now, after years of quiet, hard work, Camilla has decent approval ratings among the public and is rightly considered a deserved part of the Royal Family. 

This year especially, the Queen has been the steadfast, trustworthy rock for the royals as change and upheaval have whirled around them. 

Although many people had wondered why Charles was so besotted with Camilla, Prince Philip was not one of them.

He said he fully understood why her earthy sexiness had attracted his eldest son, even though she could never compete with Diana in the glamour stakes.

Another of the reasons why Charles was attracted to Camilla Parker Bowles – as she was still called by many people even after she married into the Royal Family – was that she was prepared to appear to take second place to him at all times.

This was unlike Diana, who eclipsed every other Royal from the moment she appeared on the scene.

Charles hated competition, from men or women, and Camilla realized right from the start that if their relationship was going to work she would have to play second fiddle to him, or at least, appear to do so.

And where King Charles is a romantic, Camilla is a realist and is, in my view, the cleverer of the two, so she has never tried to upstage him.

But on her birthday she is also able to look back on many other incidents in the past concerning her more personal life.

The Queen attended the marriage blessing at St George’s Chapel at Windsor in April 2005

Camilla realised from the beginning that she would have to play second fiddle to Charles, or at least appear to do so as he hated competition. Above: Camilla walks a few steps behind Charles as he strides alongside Alexandra Shulman at a charity event at Waddesdon Manor

Prince Charles and Camilla leaving St George’s Chapel, Windsor, following a blessing on their wedding day

Prince Charles arrives with Camilla for the wedding of his eldest son, Prince William, at Westminster Abbey in 2011

Camilla was part of the London debutante season. Above: With her mother Rosalnd Shand in March 1965

The famous image of Prince Charles talking to Camilla Parker-Bowles at a polo match in 1975, she had married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973

Prince Charles leans back on to railings as he chats with Camilla Parker Bowles during a break in a polo game at Windsor Great Park

Camilla survived the torrent of abuse after the death of Princess Diana. Above: Visiting the hairdressers in July 1997

She will be rightly proud to be the Queen, but she also loves the fact that she has two wonderful children – from her marriage to her first husband, Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles.

Tom, who was born in December 1974, is the distinguished food critic who’s columns in the Mail are avidly read by thousands.

Tom’s godfather was Charles, who is of course now also his step-father.

Then came Laura, born on New Year’s Day, 1978. She married Harry Lopes in 2006.

Between them, Tom and Laura have provided Camilla with five Grandchildren.

One of Camilla’s great pleasures is reading to her grandchildren and instilling in them a love of literature that has guided her throughout her life.

The woman who would become our Queen was born in London on July 17, 1947.

Her father was Major Bruce Shand, a wine merchant and Adjutant of the Yeomen of the Guard, the Queen’s personal bodyguard.

He had also enjoyed a distinguished military career, winning the Military Cross in the Second World War, during which he was also taken prisoner.

Her mother was the Honourable Rosalind Cubitt, a daughter of Lord Ashcombe and a member of the very wealthy Cubitt family.

Camilla with her son and then husband Andrew Parker Bowles at the memorial service for her mother, Rosalind Shand, 1994

Camilla’s children, Laura and Tom, arrive with her grandchildren at the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, September 2022

King Charles with his  godson and stepson Tom Parker Bowles at Royal Ascot in June

Camilla Parker Bowles with her father Major Bruce Shand leaving Lady Sarah Keswick’s 50th birthday party, 1995

Camilla Parker Bowles enjoys a cigarette while riding with the Beaufort Hunt in 1996

Among Camilla’s ancestors on her mother’s side was the 7th Earl of Albermarle, Queen Victoria’s Treasurer.

She was educated at Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington and also in France and Switzerland – where she was taught to speak French.

Her credentials, for want of a better word, for joining the Royal Family, were impeccable.

She later became part of the London debutante season, attending the requisite number of balls and country house parties that a well brought up young woman was expected to frequent before ‘coming out,’ which she did at the age of seventeen.

Queen Camilla, who wore a white embroidered dress with floral emblems, is helped with the train as she makes her way into Westminster Abbey

Queen Camilla is seen wearing Queen Mary’s Crown, which has a purple velvet cap with an ermine band, during the coronation service at Westminster Abbey

The King and Queen during His Majesty’s Coronation inside Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023

It was at this age that the writer Gyles Brandreth first met her.

He said she was smoking a cigarette – and she has smoked ever since.

He claimed she was smoking a Woodbine – the cheapest cigarette on the market at the time.

Some time later she admitted she had been smoking but said it was certainly not a Woodbine.

If there is one special present King Charles could give his beloved wife on this special day surely it would be to bestow titles on her son and daughter.

It is unthinkable for the step-son and daughter of the reigning sovereign not to have even Lord or Lady prefix before their name.

And only Charles can make that gesture. Titles are in his gift.

Camilla’s mantra is: This is me. Take me or leave me as I am. It’s lasted her well for seventy-seven years. We all wish her a very happy birthday, Your Majesty!