Camilla's brother tried to kill her

The brother of Camilla Parker Bowles has revealed how he tried to stab his sister because he "loathed her with an obsessive passion".

One night in 1959, aged only eight, Mark Shand Kidd set out on a mission that might have changed the course of history, creeping from his bedroom armed with a penknife, determined to stab the sister he hated. He recalled: "I wobbled along the moonlit passage to my sister's room and slowly pushed open the door. She was lying in her bed like a blancmange, eyes wide open."

But instead of wounding Prince Charles's future lover he accidentally stabbed himself in the leg. The revelations came in an early book by the best-selling author. But he has always refused to divulge which of his two sisters he was aiming for - however in a new interview he seems to shed light on the episode.

"She [Camilla] was everybody's favourite. She could do no wrong - and when she did, I was blamed. In addition we were both extremely fat. I think Annabel and I were more unconventional. Camilla was always the conventional one. Annabel and I were more rebellious and closer as a result."

Asked about the prospect of seeing his sister become Queen Consort or even Queen, the travel writer said: "Whatever happens will happen. I haven't given it much thought." All that he was concerned about was seeing his sister happy, he told the Daily Mail.