Camilla reigns in new public charm
drive
By Laura Peek
THE first public engagement by Camilla
Parker Bowles as president of the National Osteoporosis Society
was carried out yesterday in the latest carefully orchestrated
event to win public approval for the Prince of Wales's companion.
Dressed in a navy blue coat dress and a pearl necklace, Mrs Parker
Bowles sipped white wine at a reception at The Ritz Hotel in
central London and chatted to guests including her sister, Annabel,
her children, Tom and Laura, the actor Sean Bean and the
actresses Patricia Routledge and Barbara Windsor.
She said: "My grandmother and mother died of osteoporosis
and in those days nobody did very much about it. After my mother
died I linked up with the NOS and they started to explain to
me how important it was to raise awareness of the disease."
Camilla launches guide to preventing
osteoporosis
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
CAMILLA Parker Bowles, the companion of the Prince of Wales,
made her first public appearance as the head of a national charity
yesterday.
Mrs Parker Bowles, the president of the National Osteoporosis
Society, said her mother and her grandmother had both died from
the disease as she launched a book designed to help women to
protect themselves from it.
Mrs Parker Bowles mingles with guests at the Ritz Hotel reception
Speaking at the Ritz Hotel in London, she urged women to learn
more about the disabling condition.
She has written and signed a forward to the new mini book, A
Skeleton Guide to a Healthy You. Her mother Rosalind Shand died
at the age of 73 and her grandmother Sonia Keppell died aged
88.
Mrs Parker Bowles said in an interview at the society's reception:
"In those days nobody did much about it. They didn't understand.
After my mother died I linked up with the NOS and they started
to explain to me how important it was to raise awareness of the
disease.
"People like me did not understand the pain and the misery
it causes. I want to raise awareness so that people like my mother
don't suffer. The book gives you a good guide to a healthy life.
Even if people haven't got osteoporosis it puts them on the right
track for a healthy life."
For about an hour and half Mrs Parker Bowles mingled with the
80 quests at the reception including the actors, Patricia Routledge,
Annette Crosby, Barbara Windsor, Nerys Hughes and Sean Bean.
Windsor, the EastEnders star said she had met Mrs Parker Bowles
eight or nine times. She was at the reception because her mother-in-law
and several friends had the condition and because she liked to
give something back.
She said: "I think she's a wonderful bird. She's funny,
she's good. I like the lady. She makes me laugh."
She said Mrs Parker Bowles always asked her for some advance
information of the plot of the soap opera. "I give her a
smidgeon of EastEnders in advance. She's a great fan," she
said.
Bean, who starred in The Lord of the Rings, said he was supporting
the charity because his grandmother, Ann Bean, had very strong
bones and had taken part in osteoporosis research in Sheffield.
Crosbie, best known for her appearances in One Foot in the Grave,
said her mother had suffered from osteoporosis before her death
at the age of 90. "My mother had it badly. I think people
have so much to think about these days that young women probably
don't worry and think it's never going to happen to them,"
she said.
Osteoporosis, a thinning of the bones leading to fractures, affects
one in three women over the age of 50. It has a genetic component
so women whose mothers suffered from it are more likely to be
affected themselves.
Mrs Parker Bowles says in her foreword to the book: "Osteoporosis
is not an inevitable part of ageing; it is preventable. So it
is vital that all of us, of all ages, start taking care of our
bones now, before it is too late.
"Nowadays we are continually swamped with so many conflicting
messages on diets and fitness by magazines, newspapers and the
television that it can sometimes become confusing as to which
path it is best to follow.
"This little book aims to set you on the right route and
to act as a quick guide to all the vitamins and minerals that
can help keep your bones and your body healthy."
Here are some pictures of Sean with
his grandmother, Anne Bean, at the official opening of the osteoporosis
unit at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital in 1998. Click
on the thumbnails to see the larger pictures. A new browser window
will open. Remember to close the window before you click on the
next picture.
