Sara Parker Bowles, Queen Camilla’s former daughter-in-law, has recalled how “mortified” she was over media coverage of the outfit she wore to the wedding of King Charles III and Camilla in 2005.
The fashion editor and founder of styling service Wardrobe Revivals, who is food writer Tom Parker-Bowles’s ex-wife, wore a navy and white polka dot skirt suit from Yves Saint Laurent and a hat by Stephen Jones for the civil ceremony.
The fitted skirt came up above her knees while standing, but a photograph of Sara stepping up into a coach made the skirt appear much shorter and more revealing from the back.
Writing inThe Times on Wednesday (16 August), she said: “There were comments on the length of my skirt but I felt great. Then, in the papers the next day, next to the beautiful bride and her happy groom, there was my bottom.”
Sara recalled feeling “mortified”, but now looks back on the photos “rather fondly”.
“OK, my skirt was a little revealing, but it wasn’t intended and I think I looked quite nice,” she mused. “Sometimes, a little fingers-up to the establishment, whether that’s the fashion industry the gossips, the powers that be or the popular consensus, can feel pretty good.”
At the time, Sara was engaged to Tom. A few months after Charles and Camilla’s wedding, the pair got married in a ceremony in Oxfordshire that was attended by 450 guests, including Prince William and Prince Harry, Hugh Grant and Mick Jagger.
The former couple share two children, Lola, 16, and Freddy, 13. They divorced in 2018, but remain on good terms.
Tom Parker Bowles and fiancee Sara Buys depart the Civil Ceremony following the marriage between HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Tom's mother Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at The Guildhall, Windsor on April 9, 2005— (Getty Images)
Sara previously told the publication that her separation from Tom “will be a source of sorrow forever”.
“I’ll never not be sad about it, but one day we’ll be able to say we are really good friends,” she said.
As the Queen’s grandchildren, Sara’s teenage children remain a significant part of the royal family. Freddy served as a page of honour for Camilla at her and Charles’s coronation in May, alongside her other grandsons Gus Lopes and Louis Lopes.
Gus and Lopes are the twin sons of Camilla’s only daughter, Laura Lopes, who is married to Harry Lopes.
All three of the boys appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace beside their grandparents later on the day of the coronation.
Sara recalled: “[Freddy] 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, woah! My favourite part of the whole day was that he did a little wave when he wasn’t supposed to.”
