Princes William and Harry’s erased step-sister is a star in her own right

King Charles and Queen Camilla have been married for nearly 20 years but for a long time, the prospect of an official union between the pair seemed impossible given how unpopular then-Camilla Parker Bowles was with the public. In a bombshell sit-down with the BBC’s Panorama in 1995, the late Princess Diana had infamously declared Camilla to be the third person in her marriage, which made it “a little crowded” and had candidly explained the impact of her husband’s infidelity had on her mental health and the breakdown of her marriage to Charles.

However, with time, the public’s opinion of Camilla softened, and she and Charles finally tied the knot in 2005, in a civil ceremony in Windsor. This officially blended their two families and Prince William and Prince Harry gained two step-siblings, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, who have become long-standing regulars at royal events and enjoy high-profile careers. Tom, 49, and Laura, 46, are Queen Camilla’s children from her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles, which lasted from 1973 until 1995 when the couple officially divorced. Since Camilla and Charles married, both Tom and Laura have been regularly seen at major royal events, and attended the weddings of both Prince William in 2011 and Prince Harry in 2018.

Laura Lopes
An art curator and former journalist, Laura keeps a relatively low profile away from the royal spotlight but has enjoyed a lot of personal and professional success. She was educated at St Mary’s Shaftesbury – per Hello Magazine – a catholic all-girls boarding school, before attending Heywood Preparatory School. After school, she read History of Art and Marketing at Oxford Brookes University before forging her own career.

For a time, Laura worked as the motoring correspondent for Tatler Magazine, where her big brother Tom was also employed as a food columnist. She then started putting her degree to good use and moved to work in the art world – starting off by running The Space Gallery in London. She then went on to co-found London’s Eleven Gallery in 2005, where she held the position of director.

In 2006, she got married to former model Harry Lopes in a ceremony attended by her royal step-siblings. Lopes, a chartered accountant, was educated at Eton College and comes from an aristocratic background as the grandson of Massey Lopes, 2nd Baron Roborough.

The couple share three children, Eliza and twin brothers Gus and Louis – all of whom have played important roles at some of the most high-profile royal events in the last few years. Eliza was a bridesmaid at William and Kate’s wedding, and both Gus and Louis acted as Pages of Honour for Queen Camilla at her coronation alongside King Charles in May 2023.