Palace celebrates 40 years of charity close to Queen Camilla's heart

Buckingham Palace has shared a moving tribute as Queen Camilla marked a major milestone for a cause that has been close to her heart for more than three decades.

The Royal Family celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Royal Osteoporosis Society by sharing photographs from a special reception hosted by the Queen at Clarence House, where she honoured the charity's work and reflected on her own family's experience with the disease.

In a post on social media, the Palace wrote: "Happy 40th anniversary to the Royal Osteoporosis Society!"

The message celebrated four decades of the charity's work supporting people living with osteoporosis while promoting better bone health across the UK.

Having supported the organisation since 1994 and served as its President since 2001, the Queen spent time meeting charity representatives, ambassadors and people whose lives have been changed by its work. 

Osteoporosis, often referred to as the "silent bone disease," gradually weakens bones, making them far more likely to break, often without warning until a fracture occurs.

The Palace also shared a deeply personal part of the Queen's speech, in which she spoke about losing her mother, Rosalind Shand, to the condition and how little her family understood about the illness at the time.

"My family and I had little, or no, understanding of this devastating disease and were determined to discover more about it," Camilla said.

"We failed to comprehend how our mother could suffer so much pain, lose inches in height and yet find no available treatment from the doctors."