The Life And Death Of Queen Camilla's Brother, Mark Shand

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Of all the royals that have garnered international attention throughout their time in and out of the firm, few rival Camilla, Queen Consort. Originally on the high society scene thanks to her brief romance with a young King Charles III and later her marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles, Camilla quickly became public enemy no. 1 thanks to her extramarital affair with the king. Not only did her own marriage come tumbling down, but so did Charles and Diana Spencer's, which, given Diana's popularity among the British people, did not sit well.

So much effort has gone into rehabilitating Camilla's image in the years that have passed, and she's spoken about her own family on more than one occasion and how their support helped her weather the storm. "It was horrid. It was a deeply unpleasant time and I wouldn't want to put my worst enemy through it," Camilla once told The Mail on Sunday's You magazine about the most troubling time in her life. "I couldn't have survived it without my family."

And her family, through thick and thin, was by her side. Camilla was and remains close to her sister, Annabel Elliot, and the two have been seen enjoying each other's company and attending royal engagements together. Sadly, their brother, Mark Shand, died at the young age of 62 in April 2014. This is a look at his life and the accident that cut it short.

Everyone knows that the baby of the family can get away with anything, and that was the case for Mark Shand. With two older sisters in Annabel Elliot and Camilla, Queen Consort, Mark was not only prone to tantrums, but according to his sister, he was able to squeak by without much trouble.

"I never took the lead very much, we just did things together," Camilla told Now To Love, before revealing that Mark was the one out of the three of them who made his presence known. "My brother had a very bad temper and was quite spoiled sometimes, but it was very evenly shared out."

While his youngest child syndrome seemed to play out in real time — if his older sister's recollection is to be believed (and we can hear the youngest children everywhere groaning) — Camilla did reveal that she, Annabel, and Mark regularly enjoyed each other's company and found joy outside playing together. "I had the idyllic childhood right in the country, sitting on the South Downs with my brother and my sister and our pets and our ponies. I think it was a very simple childhood," she revealed. "The awful thing is, I suppose I thought life was always going to be like that ... It certainly gave us all a very good grounding, because we could start off with a smile on our face. As far as I remember it was perfect."

Witnessing any ill fortune fall on a family member is incredibly painful, and when Rosaline Shand was diagnosed with osteoporosis in her mid-60s, Camilla, Queen Consort, Annabel Elliot, and Mark Shand had to witness her life come to a tragic end. After a tragic battle, she died in 1994, and Camilla later reflected on the brutal experience in an interview with Now To Love.

"Nobody in those days knew anything about osteoporosis. So when she suddenly used to scream, which she did if somebody touched her, we thought, 'Why is she making such a fuss about this? It can't be that painful,'" Camilla revealed of Rosalind's illness. "She was a strong woman, capable of anything, but she shrank and she shrank and she started bending over like a croquet hoop. It affects your stomach and lungs, so her breathing became very bad. She couldn't eat much food and was in agony the whole time."

Sharing that she, Annabel, and Mark felt as though they were "at such a loss" as to what to do, the royal revealed of their joint experience, "It was terrible, because we felt so helpless. ... She used to go to the doctor who would say, 'There, there, you're old and frail, all old people get the dowager's hump, that's what happens!' She gave up in the end."

While many have focused on Camilla, Queen Consort, and her role within her family, the royal infrastructure, and beyond, Mark Shand certainly had a path paved in front of him from an early age. His father, Major Bruce Shand, was impressive on a number of fronts: He was a graduate from the Sandhurst military school, was a surviving prisoner of war due to his years of service during World War II, spent his military career with the 12th Royal Lancers, and was given the Military Cross for bravery not once, but twice. Mark's pedigree was undoubtedly impressive, and the youngest Shand kid definitely felt the pressure to follow in similar footsteps.

"Mark's father was one of the guys on whom 'The Great Escape' was based," writer Gita Mehta told Vanity Fair of Mark's upbringing and the reputation that superseded his father. "Major Shand was the archetypal English gentleman with decorations, good manners, impeccable dress. That was quite a hallmark for Mark to live up to."

Perhaps saving Mark from failure was the understanding that he would one day inherit wealth and land from his uncle, Harry, the fourth Baron Ashcombe. Harry owned an exceptional amount of property, including the Pimlico estate, which stretched over 27 acres and featured 480 houses on the grounds. Harry, however, made a bad business deal, and Mark was left with nothing to inherit.

As his sister's reputation was growing within high society (and eventually, beyond), Mark Shand started curating his own impressionable name. As he began establishing himself as part of London's social scene, he quickly crossed paths with some very impressive women, including Bianca Jagger, supermodel Marie Helvin, and Caroline Kennedy — yes, John F. Kennedy's daughter. Quickly developing a reputation as quite the ladies' man, Mark became known for his impressive looks, unbridled charm, and playboy persona. 

Of course, he wouldn't be tied down for years. Helvin reflected on their relationship and how he tormented her from day one. "He was impulsive, emotional and open hearted. He had the most beautiful body I'd ever seen. I lusted after him from the moment we met," she once said, sharing that there were whole weekends where they wouldn't leave the bed. 

Recalling a trip to the Shand family home, Helvin revealed that she was expected to sleep in the bedroom that once belonged to Camilla, Queen Consort. Clearly in love, however, Mark would creep around the house until he located his then-girlfriend so they could spend the night together. Their dalliance was not meant to be, and Helvin even shot down Mark's proposal of marriage — that just so happened to be while they were in Venice riding in a gondola — but clearly, Mark had a thing for romance.

Though Mark Shand was a man about town and clearly a ladies' guy who couldn't be tied down, he found his true purpose in conservationism and writing. Having spent the bulk of his youth traveling across Asia, Australia, and beyond, Mark wrote his first book, "Skulduggery," in 1987. He documented his time in New Guinea, and found an audience for his work before embarking on his next adventure. By 1991, Mark was back to his writing ways and penned "Travels on My Elephant," a particularly close-to-his-heart story that documented his travels.

As it turned out, Mark's true calling was in conservation efforts, and he found a distinct purpose working with elephants. He eventually rescued an elephant that he named Tara, and they embarked on a 600-mile trek across India, all of which he documented in the book. "He was looking for something," friend William Astor told Vanity Fair of Mark's life with Tara. "And it wasn't until he met an elephant that he found it, and redeemed himself."

The book eventually became a huge hit for Mark, and he even took home the British Travel Writer of the Year Award. He followed up "Travels on My Elephant" with his third book, "Queen of the Elephants," which was just as commercially and critically successful. "Travels on My Elephant" was eventually rereleased in 2012.

Amid his work, Mark Shand created his aforementioned charity, Elephant Family, geared towards conservationist efforts. He had done quite a job at securing the charity's purpose and funding, and on April 22, 2014, Elephant Family was the beneficiary of a Sotheby's charity auction. The event went off without a hitch and was an enormous financial success for Mark, and to no one's surprise, he went out into the city of London to celebrate with his friends.

On the evening in question, Mark was joined by his charity's CEO, Ruth Powys, and the nonprofit's creative director, Alexandra Bowes-Lyon. After heading to J. G. Melon to enjoy a meal, Mark and Bowes-Lyon left the restaurant to smoke a cigarette outside; they wrapped up, and he gestured to Bowes-Lyon to re-enter the building. What occurred next was something of a blur: Mark seemingly tripped over his own feet and fell backwards, reaching out to Bowes-Lyon as he did so. His head was the first thing to hit the pavement, and he was unconscious immediately. Though the paramedics were called and arrived on the scene just eight minutes later, Mark was already dead due to the freak accident.

Camilla, Queen Consort, was in Scotland at the time when she was told the news. Annabel Elliot, meanwhile, was with her brother at the hospital. She later recalled the doctor telling her, "Your brother is 99 1/2 percent brain dead."