Friday saw Queen Camilla celebrate her 79th birthday, and despite being in fine form for her big day, the royal made a sobering statement earlier this week.
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, Her Majesty made an emotional speech about the disease that killed both her mother and grandmother, touching on her own mortality, too. Watch the video below.
"The terrible problem [is] that osteoporosis is a silent thief hiding in plain sight," Queen Camilla said at the anniversary of the society. "It wreaks its havoc deep inside our bodies until, too late, we realise that the damage has been done," Her Royal Highness added.
"Without being aware of it, our bones have lost their density and strength until suddenly, a simple, everyday act – picking up a grandchild, slipping over or even sneezing – turns into a life-altering event as our bones shatter."
The Queen added: "In 2016, many of us gathered in this very spot to mark the 30th anniversary of the Royal Osteoporosis Society. On that occasion, I said this: 'I can only hope and pray that, with your help, the next 30 years will find a cure for osteoporosis, so that future generations will be spared its ravages.'"
© Getty ImagesReferencing her hopes of a decade ago, Queen Camilla continued: "We are not quite there yet, but we are well on the way, and, for that, I would like to thank you all here for everything that you have done for this charity. Together, we can – and we will – see the end of osteoporosis, forever."
She ended her speech with a sobering thought. "Here's to another 40 years. Not sure I'll be here, someone else will be though."
Queen Camilla's history with osteoporosis
It was the loss of both her mother Rosalind, at age 72, and her grandmother, Sonia, at 86, to the crippling bone disease that prompted Queen Camilla to become patron of the then-National Osteoporosis Society in 1997, and then its president in 2001.
In a 2021 interview with Gloria Hunniford for the BBC to mark World Osteoporosis Day, Queen Camilla recalled the most poignant memory of her mother's battle.
© Getty Images"I remember when a friend of hers came in one day just to give her a hug, her rib broke," she explained. "It was as bad as that."
Camilla went on to tell how her late mother's age was said to be to blame. "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 said.
The condition also affected Camilla and the rest of her family. "It was terrible," she said. "Because we didn't know anything about it, so at some point we thought, 'Well, is she making a great fuss about all this?'"
© POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesNonetheless, Camilla added that her mother's condition was so bad that "occasionally when she moved or you touched her, she literally screamed".
On the importance of educating the younger generations on the illness, Her Majesty told Gloria: "I think we all think we're immortal, don’t we, when we're young. I think I'd like to see more young people being educated. I'd love to see more young people understand 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'. But actually understanding what actually happens and how they can prevent it."
