As King Charles and Camilla mark their 20th wedding anniversary, are separate homes the key to their success?

Both of Camilla’s outfits were designed by Anna Valentine and Antonia Robinosn, she wore a cream silk dress and matching coat for the ceremony and changed into a blue-grey gown with matching coat and gold embroidery for the blessing.

The late Queen Elizabeth II did not attend the couple’s ceremony and The Telegraph reported that “Elizabeth II and Prince Philip declined to attend the official ceremony (the late Queen’s role as Head of the Church of England making the issue of the bride and groom’s double divorces insurmountable), but they did offer their in-person support at the blessing.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla had a very intimate wedding ceremony, with only 28 guests attending, including Prince William and Prince Harry and Camilla’s children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes.

King Charles and Queen Camilla then spent their honeymoon at Birkhall House on the family’s Balmoral estate. When Camilla married her first husband Andrew Parker Bowles, their wedding was attended by 800 guests at the Wellington Barracks in London on July 4, 1973.

When King Charles, the then Prince Charles married Princess Diana, the then Lady Diana Spencer on July 29, 1981 at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, their wedding was attended by 3500 guests.

Queen Camilla celebrated her 75th birthday in 2022 and told British Vogue that "I was scrutinised for such a long time that you just have to find a way to live with it.

"Nobody likes to be looked at all the time and criticised. But I think in the end, I sort of rise above it and get on with it."

Although King Charles and Queen Camilla have been married for twenty years, the couple have always maintained separate residences, King Charles has Highgrove and Queen Camilla has Ray Mill House.

Ray Mill House is located in Lacock, Wiltshire and the house is only fifteen minutes drive from Highgrove. A source told the Daily Mail that “Camilla also doesn’t have to bother about how the place looks,” and the source also added that “Charles is so fussy about tidiness, while she leaves her stuff all over the place.”

Ray Mill House is clearly not only important to Camilla but her children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes too. When the then Laura Parker Bowles married Harry Lopes in 2006, she decided to wed at St Cyriac’s church in Lacock and then their wedding reception was held at her mother’s home.

Last month it was reported that King Charles bought a £3 million home next to Ray Mill House as he was concerned it might be sold and turned into a wedding venue. A source told the Mail on Sunday that “The new arrangement is a pragmatic solution, being both a sound financial investment and a way of maintaining Her Majesty’s privacy, protection and continued enjoyment of her much-loved home, without any public funds being used.”

Although some may find the idea of King Charles and Queen Camilla maintaining separate homes strange considering they are married, just like some contribute separate bathrooms as the key to a happy marriage, it would seem that separate homes might be even more important!

Jack Stooks, who worked as a senior gardener at Charles’ country home, Highgrove for over two decades told InStyle that “Before Charles and Camilla got married, they agreed Camilla would keep her home.”

Jack Stocks also told InStyle that “The separate space was important for them both and their families.”

“For Camilla, her Wiltshire house had so many memories of raising her family,” he continued. “It’s somewhere she can retreat and escape royal life if she needs to. It’s somewhere she can go with her family and have a laid-back weekend without prying eyes.”