My anguish at life in spotlight by Camilla
THE Duchess of Cornwall revealed yesterday how her upbringing helped to prepare her for royal life – but said she had a “deeply unpleasant time” at first.
Camilla spoke fondly of her childhood and how she was taught about life, culture and how to interact with people.
The 69-year-old also admitted she would not “put my worst enemy” through the public backlash she received after rekindling her romance with Prince Charles before they wed in 2005.
The Duchess said her family helped her through the ordeal but insisted: “I don’t think I’m tough but I do think I’m quite a strong character. You have to be but I think it also comes from my upbringing.
“We were brought up in a very happy family and I can’t whinge about my childhood because it was idyllic. Our parents gave us a certain amount of freedom and we had a really good time.”
Camilla, with her younger sister Annabel and brother Mark, who died in 2014, were raised in Plumpton, East Sussex, and South Kensington, London, by their father Major Bruce Shand, an Army officer turned businessman, and mother Rosalind, an adoption worker
Camilla’s warm and friendly nature comes from her mother’s instruction to “keep the conversation going”.
Grounding
The Duchess admitted she sometimes ignored briefs provided by palace officials in favour of trying to “prise information” and stories from people during royal engagements.
She added: “Thank goodness I was brought up with the grounding of my parents and taught manners. It sounds sort of snobbish but we left school at 16 – nobody went to university unless you were a real brain box.
“Instead, we went to Paris and Florence and learned about life and culture and how to behave with people, how to talk to people. This was very ingrained in my upbringing and if I hadn’t had that, I would have found royal life much more difficult.”
She added: “My mother could be quite fierce. I remember once there was a dinner party at home with some of the most boring neighbours and we were dragged down to join them for dinner.
“We used to complain and say, ‘can’t we stay here and watch the television over fish fingers’?
“She’d sit us down at the dinner table and the minute there was silence, she used to say, ‘talk – I don’t care what you talk about, talk about your budgie or pony but keep the conversation going’. So I’ve always been able to talk.”
While intense public scrutiny took its toll on Camilla as intimate details of her relationship with Prince Charles, who had been married to the late Princess Diana, became public knowledge in the 90s, her family and friends remained by her side. She has a son and daughter, Tom and Laura, from her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles.
The Duchess said: “For about a year, when we lived at Middlewick, I couldn’t really go anywhere. But the children came and went as normal, they got on with it and so did great friends.
“I would pass the time by reading a lot.”
On the treatment she received, she said: “It was horrid. It was a deeply unpleasant time and I wouldn’t want to put my worst enemy through it. I couldn’t have survived it without my family.” Her son Tom told how they would look out of the window to count the number of paparazzi photographers outside their home.
Camilla, who is 70 in July, conducts more than 200 engagements a year and she admitted it takes a physical and emotional toll: “Sometimes you get up in the morning and think you can’t do it, and you just have to.”
She also revealed she tried to remain positive throughout her role with the Royal Family. She said: “If you are a positive person, you can do so much more.
“People are either glass halfempty or glass half-full. I always think hopefully. You just have to get on with it. Being British.”