Queen’s ex-husband revealed to be dating former ‘Weakest Link’ TV presenter

British television presenter Anne Robinson has told an interview with Saga Magazine that she is indeed dating Queen Camilla’s former husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. Asked whether rumours of her relationship with Parker Bowles were true, Robinson replied: “Yes. Full stop. Mind your own business.”

Late last year, reports emerged that Robinson had embarked on a romance with the former British Army officer, 84, who was married to Camilla between 1973 and 1995.

“They’ve been having an affair for about eight months,” a source told the celebrity gossip magazine Hello!. “It’s an extraordinary match as they’re from very different backgrounds, and Anne has a reputation for being quite bossy. The Brigadier goes down to spend the night at her place and although their friends have known about their relationship, they’ve all managed to keep it out of the public eye - until now.”

Robinson “out of the game for so long”

Robinson, who is best known for her role as the host of the popular TV quiz show The Weakest Link, is a two-time divorcée. The 79-year-old was married to the journalist Charles Wilson from 1968 to 1973 - a relationship that yielded her only child, fellow broadcaster Emma Wilson. She then tied the knot with John Penrose, also a journalist, in 1980. Their marriage lasted for 27 years.

Speaking to Saga Magazine, Robinson said she felt it was “worth the risk” to take another shot at love, having been single for nearly two decades.

“I’d been out of the game for so long,” she explained. “And also I don’t drink. If you don’t drink you’re not as reckless, are you? I’d say that like everything else I’ve done, it’s always worth the risk. I’m a great believer in surprising yourself by taking risks. Personally and professionally. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If the worst that can happen is you get some egg on your face, that’s not terrible is it?”

Parker Bowles, who has two children from his relationship with Camilla - Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes - lost second wife Rosemary Pitman to cancer in 2010.

Known as “queen of mean” on Weakest Link

Robinson spent more than a decade as the host of the British version of The Weakest Link, which debuted on the BBC in 2000. She was also the initial presenter of the game show’s US edition after its arrival on NBC a year later.

Her hosting style was characterised by the vicious barbs she directed at her contestants, earning her the nickname “the queen of mean”. Indeed, she is widely considered to have gone too far with some of her insults. For example, when a contestant revealed that she worked as a beauty therapist, Robinson retorted: “So you haven’t had any time to work on yourself, then?” In another exchange, the presenter sought to criticise a participant’s fashion sense by asking her: “Why are you dressed like a lesbian?”

In a 2021 interview with the UK newspaper Metro, Robinson insisted that her intention had never been to “deeply upset” the targets of her brutal quips.

“If I felt I’d been harsh, particularly with youngsters, I’d often come back and say cut that out,” she said. “Nevertheless, there’s more than one mother who’s bumped into me on the street and said, ‘I’ll never forgive you for what you said to my son.’ I say, ‘I’m terribly sorry I upset you.’

“I wasn’t there to deeply upset people. Weakest Link was about puncturing the egos of contestants who thought they were brilliant.”