Camilla Parker-Bowles' £850K mansion where she can be 'relaxed on my own terms' without Charles

For her 75th birthday, Camilla, the then-Duchess of Cornwall, commissioned her daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, to photograph her in her private country manor, where she feels most at home.

Ray Mill House

Camilla Parker Bowles bought the sprawling country estate after her divorce from her first husband, Andrew. The country manor is said to have cost her £850,000.

The Grade-II listed building boasts six bedrooms. The land surrounding the house is large enough to have a pond, swimming pool, stables and an elegant roof terrace that overlooks the grounds.

The Queen Consort’s country home is in Lacock, Wiltshire, a mere fifteen minutes from King Charles’s Highgrove Estate.

‘A refuge’

Despite marrying the then-Prince Charles in 2005, Camilla reportedly insisted on maintaining a separate home without servants and King Charles’s alleged fussiness.

According to Mail Online, the Queen Consort considers her country manor her ‘true’ home. In an interview with Country Life, the Queen Consort said:

It is my refuge, the one place where I can be completely relaxed on my own terms.

A source once told Express.co.uk:

She can sit down with a big G&T, kick of her shoes and watch Coronation Street, which Charles loathes. She also doesn't have to bother about how the place looks – Charles is so fussy about tidiness, while she leaves her stuff all over the place.

Jessica Jayne, author of The Duchess of Cornwall: Camilla's Story And Secrets, and her former flatmate, wrote:

Upon coming home, she would just drop her clothes on the floor on her way to her bedroom.

Another person once claimed:

That house is where she can cook scrambled eggs in her dressing gown and be among those she loves with not a jot of ceremony or anyone looking at her.

A meeting place

She also uses the manor to meet with her friends and family in an informal setting, away from ‘the royal circus’. Mail Online claims the Queen Consort loves spending time with her grandchildren at the property, away from the spotlight.

According to biographer Tina Brown, the Queen Consort enjoys ‘raucous dinners’ with her grown-up children, Tom and Laura, at her Wiltshire home.

The former Duchess of Cornwall hosted her daughter Laura and husband Harry Lopes's wedding reception in 2006. The guest list was 380 strong and included her husband, the then-Prince Charles, and his two sons, Princes William and Harry.

Sources used:

- Mail Online: The place where Camilla feels most 'at home': Queen Consort retreated to Ray Mill House - which she bought after her divorce for £850k - where she can 'kick off her shoes', 'cook in her dressing gown' and enjoy a 'big G&T'

- Express.co.uk: Where is Ray Mill House? A look at Camilla's beloved post-divorce hideaway