Andrew Parker Bowles

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Brigadier Andrew Henry Parker Bowles OBE, (born December 27, 1939) is a retired English military officer. He is best known as the former husband of HRH The Duchess of Cornwall (who is known as the Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland), wife of HRH The Prince of Wales.

[edit] Birth and Christening

He is the son of Derek Henry Parker Bowles, a great-grandson of the 6th Earl of Macclesfield, and his Roman Catholic wife, Ann de Trafford, a daughter of the multimillionaire racehorse owner Sir Humphrey de Trafford, who was descended from a notable recusant English Catholic family. In her later years, Ann Parker Bowles was made a Dame.

It has been said that Andrew Parker Bowles's godmother was Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, but his christening announcement in The Times, February 13, 1940 (p. 9, col. C) does not mention her name. (The Times mentions only Sir Humphrey de Trafford, the Marquess of Hartington, Miss Mary de Trafford and Miss Swinnerton-Dyer.)

[edit] Marriages and Children

Andrew Parker Bowles married Camilla Rosemary Shand in a Roman Catholic ceremony in 1973; formerly, she was a girlfriend of the Prince of Wales. They have two children, Tom and Laura, who were raised nominally Roman Catholic. Laura attended St. Mary's, Shaftesbury, a Catholic girls school in Dorset, England, while Tom attended Eton College.

Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles divorced in 1995. A year later he married his longtime companion, Rosemary Pitman. Rosemary (née Dickinson) was first married to Lieutenant-Colonel (John) Hugh Pitman, a descendant of Sir Isaac Pitman, inventor of the Pitman system of shorthand (stenography), and also the brother-in-law of Edmund Fermoy (5th Baron Fermoy), an uncle of Diana, Princess of Wales. Andrew and Rosemary Parker Bowles attended the marriage of Camilla and the Prince of Wales, which took place on April 9, 2005.

[edit] Education and Career

He was educated at the Benedictine Ampleforth College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Parker Bowles 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, Bt) 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.

In 1981-1983 he was Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. From 1987 to 1990 he was Lieutenant-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, Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1991-1994. He retired in 1994.