After his first marriage ended in divorce, Andrew Parker Bowles rekindled his romance with Rosemary Pitman.
They were blissfully wed till her untimely demise in 2010.
Who was Andrew Parker Bowles’ second wife Rosemary Pitman?
Although Rosemary Dickinson spent most of her childhood in and around Malmesbury, Wiltshire, she was born in Northumberland on June 17, 1940.
She was Alice Barnett’s and Robert Dickinson’s daughter.
She was raised in a prosperous household and went to St. Mary’s School in Ascot, Berkshire.
She worked in London as a competent garden designer after completing her schooling.
Because of her excellent work, she received multiple accolades over her career.
At the age of 21, she tied the knot with Hugh Pitman, her first husband, in 1961.
Hugh moved about with the Army, so Rosemary spent their marriage alternating between England and Germany.
The couple eventually made Foxley, close to Malmesbury, their home before divorcing in the middle of the 1970s.
In 1996, following her divorce from her first husband, Rosemary wed Andrew Parker Bowles.
Since Rosemary’s first husband was an officer in the same regiment as Andrew, the two had known each other for a very long period.
The Chelsea Register Office served as the venue for the couple’s little wedding.
A year later, the church sanctioned their union because the two were devoted Catholics.
Since Andrew was previously married to Camilla Shand, who is now known as Queen Camilla and the wife of King Charles III, Rosemary was not his first wife.
On July 4, 1973, Camilla and Andrew tied the knot in a Catholic wedding at London’s Guards Chapel.
Princess Margaret and Princess Anne, the late Queen’s mother, were present at the St. James’s Palace wedding.
They are said to have had several extramarital encounters during their partnership, which ended in 1995.
They declared their separation in a statement, referring to it as “a private matter”.
Their statement that “throughout our marriage, we have always tended to follow rather different interests, but in recent years we have led completely separate lives” was all they provided as an explanation for the breakup.
Even after their divorce, Andrew and Camilla are still close with one another.
On May 6, 2023, Andrew was one among the attendees at Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III.
From Rosemary’s first marriage to Hugh, three children were born.
It was Thomas, William, and Henry.
In a similar vein, her second husband’s marriage to Queen Camilla produced Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Topes.
Nevertheless, Rosemary and Andrew Parker never shared a child.
On January 10, 2010, Rosemary passed away at the age of 68 following a four-year fight with cancer.
Despite undergoing multiple therapies such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the sickness proved to be incurable.
Her son Henry told The Telegraph: “She has had a long battle with cancer and has been fighting it extremely hard,.
“She was very pleased to have made Christmas and then Andrew’s birthday, his 70th, just after Christmas, and subsequently the birth of his grandchildren.”
He added: “She was incredibly brave and she fought this vigorous cancer for many years.
“She will be missed very deeply by all of us.”
Her funeral service was held at St Aldhem’s Catholic Church in Malmesbury on January 19, 2010.
