Queen Camilla still has a special bond with her former daughter-in-law Sara Parker Bowles.
Sara was married to the monarch’s son, Tom, from 2005 until 2018.
The fashion editor opened up about her relationship with Camilla — who turned 76 on July 17.
The royal’s ex-family member told the Times how when she and Tom got together, Camilla was having a hard time with her public image — a period dubbed “the hate years.”
“[Camilla] wasn’t accepted at all. She didn’t talk about it. She was just very brave and uncomplaining,” Sara said.
“Tom was worried it would happen all over again when the Queen died, but it has been the opposite,” she said, also alluding to how she believed Camilla would behave after Queen Elizabeth passed.
The Queen died in September 2022, with Camilla and her husband, King Charles, becoming monarchs upon her passing.
Sara and Camilla have stayed close despite Sara and Tom divorcing.
Sara Parker Bowles said in an interview that she still has a close relationship with her former mother-in-law, Queen Camilla
After five years of dating, Tom Parker Bowles married Sara in 2005
Sara and her kids, Lola and Freddy, attended the coronation in May, with her 13-year-old son serving as one of Camilla’s pages of honor.
The Wardrobe Revivals founder looked back on the crowning, saying: “Camilla was really, really nervous. She wanted the people that she loved around her. [The king] wasn’t nervous at all. But Camilla didn’t ask for any of this.”
“She’s the human face of the royal family because she’s not part of it. You need those outsiders, really,” Sara added, also noting that her children still call their grandmother “Gaga.”
Sara has two children, Lola and Freddy
She then happily recalled seeing her son on the balcony of Buckingham Palace alongside King Charles and Camilla, right after the coronation at Westminster Abbey.
“I was quite obsessively watching him. But I knew by then he was going to be OK, that I could sort of let go,” she said.
“He wanted to go in the gold carriage, but he didn’t get to. Then his face on the balcony — I could see he was just like, whoa! My favorite part of the whole day was that he did a little wave that he wasn’t supposed to,” Sara gushed.
(From left) Camilla’s daughter Laura, Camilla, Charles, Sara Parker Bowles and Tom Parker Bowles at the races in 2006
She revealed that she was sent an email earlier this year in which a representative for Charles asked what gift Lola desired for her 16th birthday.
“It was just surreal. Like language from a fairy tale,” she recounted, saying that the message simply read: “The king would like to know what Lola wants for her birthday.”
