Sara Parker Bowles Reveals She Felt “Mortified” Over Her Outfit for King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s Royal Wedding

When King Charles III wed Queen Camilla on April 9, 2005, their wedding guests stepped out in their best attire. Sara Parker Bowles, Camilla’s former daughter-in-law and son Tom Parker Bowles’ ex-wife, was one particular guest who “felt great” about her outfit on the big day but later revealed she was “mortified” when looking back at the photos of herself. 

For her former mother-in-law's civil marriage ceremony to the future monarch’s, the fashion editor and founder of styling service Wardrobe Revivals sported a cream skirt and a navy blue blazer featuring white polka dots from Yves Saint Laurent, which she paired with a hat by Stephen Jones. When Sara was standing, the skirt hit just above her knees, but a photograph of Sara stepping into a bus made the skirt appear much shorter in the back. “There were comments on the length of my skirt, but I felt great,” she wrote in The Times on August 16, 2023. “Then, in the papers the next day, next to the beautiful bride and her happy groom, there was my bottom.” Upon seeing the revealing snap at the time, Sara explained she was “mortified.” 

Now, however, nearly 20 years later, Sara says she 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 writes. “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.”

During Charles and Camilla’s nuptials in 2005, Sara was engaged to Camilla’s son, Tom. A few months after Charles and Camilla tied the knot, Sara and Tom said “I do” in Oxfordshire, England, The Independent reports. Their big day was an extravagant affair with 450 guests in attendance, including Prince William, Prince Harry, Hugh Grant, and Mick Jagger. Sara and Tom went on to have two children, Lola and Freddy. After 13 years of marriage, however, the two got divorced, which was a “source of sorrow” for Sara. “I’ll never not be sad about it, but one day we’ll be able to say we are really good friends,” she said at the time. Now, the two are on good terms.

Not only did Sara maintain a good relationship with her ex-husband, but she also stayed close to Camilla, according to New York Post. Sara’s grandchildren, in particular, still play a big part in Camilla’s life, whom they call “Gaga.” During the king and queen’s coronation in May 2023 at Westminster Abbey, Freddy served as one of Camilla’s pages of honor. After the service, Freddy appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace alongside Charles and Camilla. “I was quite obsessively watching him, but I knew by then he was going to be OK, that I could sort of let go,” Sara recalled. “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.”

Charles and Camilla are also thoughtful grandparents to Lola, Sara’s oldest child. For Lola's 16th birthday earlier this year, Sara revealed that a representative for Charles sent an email, asking his granddaughter what she wanted for a gift. “It was just surreal—like language from a fairy tale,” Sara reminisced.