Queen Camilla’s first love Kevin Burke, who she met during her days as a fun-loving debutante, dies aged 77
She is happily married to King Charles but before Queen’s Camilla love story began with His Majesty – there was another man that had captured her heart.
I hear that the Queen, 76, may be beset by the ache of nostalgia, as I can reveal that her first love, Kevin Burke, has died aged 77.
The pair met during the Queen’s halcyon days as a fun-loving debutante, where she was adored by a slew of male admirers from the high society soirees that she would frequent.
Mr Burke died earlier this month, with the family asking for donations to be made to the British Heart Foundation.
His funeral will take place in September.
Heartache: Queen Camilla’s first love Kevin Burke has died aged 77. The pair met during the Queen’s halcyon days as a fun-loving debutante
The young Milla Shand as she was known is thought to have met Kevin, the then 19-year-old son of Sir Aubrey Burke deputy chairman of the aircraft manufacturer, Hawker Siddeley, shortly after her coming out party in Knightsbridge in 1965.
What followed was a whirlwind of glittering soirees against the backdrop of the swinging sixties where at sweet seventeen, Ms Milla Shand was the life and soul of the party.
Although their affair was short-lived, Mr Burke spoke very fondly of his former flame, as he reminisced about their time together in Jessica Jayne’s biography: The Duchess of Cornwall her story and secrets.
‘Every night we had two or three cocktail parties to go to and a dance and a couple of dances to choose from at weekends in the country,’ he revealed.
‘It was the best fun, and I had the best and most fun partner you could possibly wish for. Camilla was immensely popular and although she wasn’t a beauty, she was attractive and sexy.’
Indeed, so popular was Milla, that it wasn’t long before she moved on from Mr Burke and left him heartbroken.
Youth: The young Milla Shand (Camilla, right) is thought to have met Kevin shortly after her coming out party in Knightsbridge in 1965. Pictured: Camilla with her mother Rosalind Shand in 1965
Fun: Kevin detailed his relationship with Camilla before her love story began with King Charles (pictured), saying: ‘It was the best fun, and I had the best and most fun partner you could possibly wish for’
‘I remained with Camilla all that year. I suppose we were in love and then she ditched me. Why? Well, the short answer is that she was having a ball in London,’ he revealed.
She later married her first husband the former Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 with whom she had two children, Tom and Laura. They divorced in 1995.
Having become a chartered accountant, Kevin Burke finally settled down at the aged of 42.
His first marriage to advertising executive Peta Baker lasted 14 years ending in 2001.
Then he wed former head-hunter Luisa Fairey, with whom he became a father for the first time at 58.
Speaking at the time he said, ‘It was unexpected, but I am a lucky fellow.’
Kevin is survived by his ‘much loved’ son Max.
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