Yes, that Parker Bowles. In case you missed it, Princess Anne's romantic attention was simultaneously caught by Andrew Parker Bowles, who would go on to marry Camilla, Queen Consort in 1973 after her romance with King Charles came to an end the first time (it's all very cyclical). Anne and Parker Bowles first connected in 1970, during the same period of time when Richard Meade was on the scene. Biographer Sally Bedell Smith detailed that given Parker Bowles' horse racing connections and his established ties to the royal family, he and Anne bonded fairly quickly. Their time together, however, was a bit short-lived.
"It's unclear when their romance wound down, but Anne had no shortage of young men interested in her, among them Mark Phillips, whom she first met in 1968," Smith detailed, noting that the romance between Anne and Parker Bowles just seemed to fizzle out over time. However, the two remained in each other's lives in a particularly meaningful way. Despite their status as exes, Anne designated Parker Bowles in her children's lives.
"Anne and Andrew have remained friends to this day, and he is a godfather of Anne and Mark's daughter Zara, born in 1981," Smith further detailed. But why did things really cease between these two? As it turns out, one formality, in particular, stood in their way.
