{"id":243724,"date":"2023-12-13T23:08:11","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T23:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=243724"},"modified":"2023-12-13T23:08:11","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T23:08:11","slug":"eden-confidential-camillas-first-husband-mourns-death-of-his-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/celebrities\/eden-confidential-camillas-first-husband-mourns-death-of-his-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Camilla's first husband mourns death of his friend"},"content":{"rendered":"
He has, for decades, scrupulously refrained from uttering a word in public about his family or any of his friends. But today Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles makes an exception, following the death of the man he describes as ‘the best company in the world’.<\/p>\n
In a heartfelt tribute, Parker Bowles \u2013 first husband and steadfast friend of Queen Camilla \u2013 recalls, in particular, the darkest hour of his life, on July 20 1982, when, as Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry Regiment, four of his men and seven horses were killed by an IRA bomb.<\/p>\n
In the attack’s aftermath, he received a letter from Ireland which he has\u00a0kept ever since. ‘Hang on. I’ll get it,’ he tells me, before reading its opening paragraph. ‘Dear Andrew, It’s a long time since we’ve been in touch. I’m only sorry that it’s such a dreadful event that should put us in touch again. It may be difficult for you to understand the revulsion that is felt by the ordinary person in this country for the scum that killed, supposedly in the name of Ireland.’<\/p>\n
The writer was his friend Jonathan Irwin, who died on Sunday aged 82. At the time, Irwin, a buccaneering, Old Etonian Anglo-Irishman, was managing director of Goffs, Ireland’s bloodstock auctioneers and, as Parker Bowles puts it, ‘a big figure there,\u00a0involved in running racing in Ireland. He said: ‘We’d like to buy horses to replace the ones that were killed’.’<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles has broken his silence to pay tribute to the ‘proper man’ who helped him in his darkest hour (Pictured: Parker-Bowles and Princess Anne At An Event In Hyde Park, London)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Old Etonian Anglo-Irishman\u00a0Jonathan Irwin\u00a0died on Sunday aged 82<\/p>\n
It was a remarkable offer. ‘I was very touched. Things were very difficult in Ireland at the time.’<\/p>\n
Irwin was true to his word. ‘He pulled everyone together and got his board to agree to give us \u00a350,000.’<\/p>\n
Irwin’s assertion about the revulsion felt by ‘the ordinary person’ in Ireland also proved correct. Parker Bowles received letter after letter from Ireland expressing contempt for the IRA, many with postal orders enclosed. ‘Another \u00a340,000 came in. Having got the cheques and discussed it with Jonathan, we decided that a better thing to do would be to give it to the families of those who had been killed.’<\/p>\n
But the Household Cavalry’s new horses \u2013 bought by the Ministry of Defence \u2013 did come from Ireland. ‘Probably 95 per cent of the black horses still do,’ Parker Bowles reflects.<\/p>\n
His friend endured the loss of one of the sons by his first marriage, to Mikaela Rawlinson, daughter of the late Attorney General Lord Rawlinson, and two more from his second marriage, to Mary Ann O’Brien.<\/p>\n
But he and Mary Ann established the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation \u2013 ‘a wonderful charity,’ Parker Bowles says. ‘Jonathan was charming, he was amusing \u2013 the best company in the world. And, if he believed in a cause, it wasn’t talk, it was action. He was an action man. A proper man.’<\/p>\n
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