CAMILLA’S RACY PAST
THE LIFE AND LOVES OF THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL
The Queen called her “wicked” and the public regarded her as “the most hated woman in Britain”. But incredibly, Prince Charles’ second wife Camilla is now a much-loved royal and a future Queen in the making.
But few are aware of her racy past as a young socialite in the 1960s and ’70s and how she came to meet the heir to the throne.
Now New Idea has pieced together the sexy secrets of the woman who became the Duchess of Cornwall.
The daughter of a well-off wine merchant and former army Major, Camilla had a happy childhood in rural Sussex with her younger sister Annabel and brother Mark.
Although not a conventionally stunning beauty she had an inner confidence as a teenager which boys found attractive. Friend Broderick Munrowilson said: “She was very easygoing. She was into boys much quicker than other girls of her age and there was this daredevil element in her.” Another friend told author Rebecca Tyrell, “Annabel was not the sort to throw her knickers on the table” – implying “Milla” was!
During a spell at a Swiss finishing school, Milla learnt to French kiss, and in 1965, at the age of 17, “came out” as a society debutante in London.
The evening began with Camilla posing for a formal photograph with her proud parents Major Bruce and Mrs Rosalind Shand at Searcys restaurant, near Harrods.
But as the wine and champagne flowed for 150 guests, at least two eligible male guests fell for her charms.
According to the late gossip columnist Nigel Dempster, Camilla lost her virginity two days later to 19-year-old Kevin Burke, son of aviation magnate Sir Aubrey Burke, chairman of Hawker Siddeley.
The Etonian impressed her with his yellow E-type Jaguar which she dubbed “The Egg.”
He later said: “Every night we had two or three cocktail parties to go to and a dance – and a couple of dances at weekends … It was the best time and I had the most fun partner you could possibly wish for.
“Camilla was terrific fun, and although she wasn’t a beauty, she was attractive and sexy. She was never shy, and always had something amusing to say.
“I suppose we were in love. Then she ditched me!”
Camilla set her sights on banking heir Rupert Hambro, and soon they too became lovers.
By now sharing a Kensington flat with a friend and working as a receptionist (the only job she ever had until becoming a royal) Camilla was seen with several men in the mid ’60s, including Old Etonian Patrick Robertsonmacleod and Charles Peel, a descendant of 19th century Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel.
Men adored her, with one friend saying: “When a boy hove into view she could turn on the headlights – and how!”
Next, Camilla turned on the headlights for the man who would become her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. She became besotted with the Captain in the Household Cavalry, whose father Derek was a friend of the Queen Mother.
Andrew and Camilla were a golden couple in “swinging London” but he was incapable of being faithful and was seeing several other girls.
It was while he was abroad with the Army that Camilla first met the bashful young Prince Charles and the course of history was about to change forever.