It’s a few days now before the world sees Britain getting a new monarch. King Charles will be coronated on 6 May and the guest list for the grand event, bearing a price tag of an estimated £100 million (Rs 1,016 crore), already reads like a who’s who of international royalty, world leaders and worldly celebrities.

But one guest at the event is already raising eyebrows and that’s Andrew Parker Bowles, Queen Camilla’s former husband. According to The Sunday Times, Parker Bowles will be in attendance to watch his first wife be crowned alongside the new king at Westminster Abbey.

Former Tory minister Nadine Dorries writing for the Daily Mail said that the Queen was setting a good example to the world, showing what an amicable divorce looks like and added that Camilla showing “that it is possible to live in relative harmony after divorce”.

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Here’s a better look at who is Andrew Parker Bowles and his relationship with Queen Camilla and the British royal family.

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Camilla’s first husband

Andrew Parker Bowles has long had a royal connection, far dating his marriage to Queen Camilla. Born in 1953, his parents were friends with the Queen Mother and as a 13-year-old he served as a page at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

He joined the British military in 1960 and was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards. He served for 34 years eventually rising to the position of brigadier. Notably, he was also awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in Zimbabwe.

Andrew was first introduced to Camilla by his younger brother Simon in the late 1960s and proceeded to date on and off for several years. In 1973, as Prince Charles’s biographer Sally Bedell Smith, writes, “pressure was building on Andrew Parker Bowles to make a commitment.”

And so eventually, according to Andrew’s cousin John Bowes Lyon, his father, Derek Parker Bowles, and Camilla’s father, Bruce Shand, published an engagement notice in The Times for their children.

He and Camilla were married on 4 July of 1973 in a Catholic ceremony at the Guards Chapel in London. The couple had two children together: 48-year-old food writer Tom Parker Bowles; and 45-year-old art curator Laura Lopes.

It was in 1995 that Andrew and Camilla decided to part ways and ended their marriage of 22 years.

According to people who know him, Andrew is described as having been “very naughty with women” throughout.

Also read: Harry In, Meghan Out: Who else is skipping King Charles’ coronation?

But whatever be their past indiscretions, the duo continues to be friends and share a close relationship. A friend told the Daily Mail that “they are joined at the hip”. “He arranges so much for her. They have lunch together the whole time. He’s right in there. He was always, and still is, Camilla’s co-conspirator,” the friend added.

This friendship was on display when he was invited as a guest at Charles and Camilla’s wedding in April 2005.

The Marchioness of Lansdowne, one of Camilla’s Queen’s Companions, talking about their friendship, was quoted by the Daily Mail saying: “Everybody loves Andrew. He’s a real charmer but he’s always terribly misbehaving. Andrew will ring her up and tell her when she’s got something wrong and she’ll ring him up and say when he’s misbehaving.

“Through adversity they’ve kept a really good family ethic. It helps with their children and grandchildren.”

Andrew’s royal connection

But Andrew’s brush with the British royals isn’t restricted only to Camilla. Before he married Camilla, Andrew dated Princess Anne – King Charles’ younger sister.

Prince Charles’s biographer Sally Bedell Smith writes that Anne and Andrew had a relationship in the ’70s, but given that he was Catholic, he wasn’t marriage material for Anne. “Even when their romance eventually wound down, they remained lifelong friends,” writes Bedell Smith noting that they had much in common, most notably a love of horses.

Their friendship also lent to him becoming godfather to Princess Anne’s daughter Zara.

Andrew also shared camaraderie with Charles; he played on King Charles’ polo team when they were young men. He also had front-row seats to King Charles’ previous wedding to Princess Diana in 1981. As a commanding officer of the Household Cavalry, Andrew accompanied the newly married Charles and Diana on horseback following their wedding.

Till date, he is often seen hobnobbing with the Royals and last year he also represented the Queen Consort at a funeral.

A grand event beckons

The coronation ceremony on 6 May will be a historic moment for Britain and the monarchy. King Charles will be the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned at the central London church since King William I in 1066.

Also read: Why Charles’ coronation is taking place nine months after he was proclaimed king

Over 2,000 people have been invited for the event that has been scaled down to last around an hour. Among them is Charles’ younger son, Prince Harry, who has made stinging criticisms of royal life since moving to California three years ago.

The event has courted controversy over its cost as well as what some call a ‘pagan symbol’. At a time when Britain is seeing a high cost of living and shortages of food, an estimated £100 million for an event seems apathetic and insensitive to some.

With inputs from agencies

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