Camilla Parker Bowles Reveals Tragic Details About Her Mother

It's often the way of the royals to leave private matters private, especially when it concerns their health or the health of their loved ones. Thus, it came as quite the shocker when the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Parker Bowles opted to give a rather candid interview to presenter Gloria Hunniford on BBC Morning Live (via the Daily Mail) on October 25 regarding her late mother, Rosalind Shand, and the health struggles she faced prior to her death in 1994 — namely those due to her long struggle with osteoporosis, a "disease that causes bones to become weak and brittle," per Mayo Clinic.

"It was terrible, because we didn't know anything about it, so at some point we thought 'well, is she making a great fuss about all this?'" the Duchess of Cornwall recalled about the painful experience of watching her mother suffer. To make matters worse, Camilla was told time and time again that there was nothing that could be done. "My mother, I think, went to see everybody you could possibly think of and they all said the same thing — 'Sorry, you're old.' We just watched her shrinking before our eyes," she revealed. 

Alas, there was one particular instance that really broke Camilla's heart. 

On the heels of World Osteoporosis Day, Camilla Parker Bowles revealed in an interview with BBC Morning Live (via the Daily Mail) that her mother Rosalind Shand's battle with osteoporosis was so intense that she even suffered a broken rib whilst engaging in something as innocent as a display of affection. "'Occasionally when she moved or you touched her she literally screamed," Camilla said before recounting, "I remember when a friend of hers came in one day just to give her a hug, her rib broke. It was as bad as that." 

Camilla has served as president of the Royal Osteoporosis Society since 2001, a charity that she's quite passionate about given that both her mother and her grandmother suffered from the disease. "I'd like to see more young people being educated. I'd love to see more young people understanding about it, not just thinking, you know, 'poor old bats, we're going to get old and that's what's going to happen to us,'" she told the show's host, Gloria Hunniford. And when education doesn't work, she's not above taking measures into her own hands and employing a few scare tactics here and there. While discussing her grandchildren, Camilla sheepishly admitted that she often shows them pictures of their late great grandmother. "I would make them look at these photographs and say 'look, if you don't take care that's what will happen to you,'" she said.

Whatever works, Camilla. Whatever works.