Camilla's ex to attend wedding

2005-04-08 21:30

London - The guests celebrating the marriage of Camilla Parker Bowles and her long-time love, Prince Charles, will include her former husband, ex-army officer Andrew Parker Bowles.

Andrew Parker Bowles, 65, who divorced Camilla in 1995 after 21 years of marriage, is now married to Rosemary Pitman, daughter of a wealthy lawyer.

Tall and distinguished, with what friends describe as a rakish charm, he has not spoken publicly about his former wife's long-standing affair with Prince Charles, which is believed to have resumed in the mid-1980s after Charles's marriage to Princess Diana foundered.

Parker Bowles married Camilla in 1974. Charles, then a naval officer, was away at sea at the time.

Parker Bowles's late father, Derek, was a landowner and a leading figure in the horse racing world, as well as a close friend of Charles's grandmother, the late Queen Mother Elizabeth.

Andrew Parker Bowles remained a favourite of the Queen Mother, a racing fan who would stay with him and Camilla at their former home in Wiltshire county in southern England while attending the annual Cheltenham racing festival.

In return, the Parker Bowleses were invited to stay at Birkhall, the Queen Mother's home on the royal Balmoral estate in Scotland, where Charles and Camilla will spend their honeymoon.

A former British army brigadier, Parker Bowles now works as a director of Arena Leisure, a company that owns race courses, and property group Harcourt Developments.

Observers say he remains friendly with his ex-wife; the couple have two children, Tom and Laura.

- AP