The Duchess of Cornwall at 70: Here’s 17 things you might not know
From her teenage nickname to her signature dish in the kitchen, we give you an insight into Camilla ahead of her birthday.
Here are some things you might not know about the Duchess of Cornwall ahead of her 70th birthday on Monday:
As a daredevil teenager, she used to climb onto the roof of her private girls’ school in Kensington to have a sneaky cigarette.
One of her few temporary jobs was as a receptionist at Colefax & Fowler, an upmarket decorating firm – but she was sacked within a week for turning up late.
As a debutante, she was known as “Milla”, to her late brother Mark Shand, she was “Camillsy” and her five grandchildren call her “Gaga”.
She was barely able to leave her house for a year in the 1990s because of fears of the public’s reaction and press interest after revelations about her affair with Charles while he was married to Diana, Princess of Wales. She branded the experience “horrid”.
Ten years ago, the Duchess was due to attend the service marking the 10th anniversary of Diana, Princess of Wales’s death, but in a dramatic U-turn she pulled out the weekend before, saying she did not want to detract from the purpose of the day.
The Duchess lost both her mother Rosalind and her grandmother Sonia to the crippling bone disease osteoporosis and her experience prompted her to become patron of the National Osteoporosis Society in 1997 and its president in 2001.
A big fan of Strictly Come Dancing, Camilla is friends with judge Craig Revel Horwood and visited the set in 2011.
Her signature dish is roast chicken.
