Scarcely a week after he celebrated the joyous news that his daughter, Laura Lopes, had given birth to twins, Brig Andrew Parker Bowles is struggling to come to terms with a devastating loss. Mandrake is sad to report that his wife, Rosemary, has died at the age of 69.

“She has had a long battle with cancer and has been fighting it extremely hard,” says Henry Pitman, one of Rose’s three children from her first marriage. “She was very pleased to have made Christmas and then Andrew’s birthday, his 70th, just after Christmas, and subsequently the birth of his grandchildren.

“There are lots of grandchildren and she was pleased to be able to spend Christmas with the family. She was definitely trying to hold on until Christmas. She died at home, where she had been the whole way through her illness.”

Brig Parker Bowles has remained very close to his first wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, who is understood to be “deeply saddened” by the news. He married the divorced garden designer in 1996, the year after his marriage to Camilla was dissolved.

The couple have joined the Prince of Wales and Camilla at Sandringham on a number of occasions. They were even joined by Camilla on a holiday in Antigua in 2008.

The former officer of the Blues and Royals had been married to Camilla, 62, for 25 years and the couple have two children, Tom Parker Bowles, the food writer, and Laura, who runs an art gallery.

The funeral will be held next week and a service of thanksgiving will take place in London in March. “She was incredibly brave and she fought this vigorous cancer for many years,” adds her son. “She will be missed very deeply by all of us.”