Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall the patron, president and a member of numerous charities and organisations. Since 1994, she has taken action on osteoporosis, earning honours and awards. She has also raised awareness in areas including rape and sexual abuse, literacy, animal welfare and poverty. Camilla Rosemary Shand was born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July 1947. She grew up in The Laines – an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex – and a three-storey house in South Kensington, her family's second home. Her parents were British Army officer turned businessman Major Bruce Shand (1917–2006) and his wife, Rosalind ("née" Cubitt; 1921–1994).
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall have been different statements on why the couple's relationship ended in 1973. Robert Lacey wrote in his 2008 book, "Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II", that Charles had met Camilla too early, and that he had not asked her to wait for him when he went overseas for military duties. Sarah Bradford wrote in her 2007 book, "Diana", that a member of the close circle of his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten claimed Mountbatten arranged for Charles to be taken overseas to end the relationship with Camilla to make way for an engagement between his granddaughter, Amanda Knatchbull, and Charles. Some sources