Ray Mill House served as the backdrop for Queen Camilla’s 78th birthday portrait. The country house located in the village of Lacock is Her Majesty's private home. "It is my refuge," she once told Country Life. "The one place where I can be completely relaxed on my own terms."
The Queen is said to have purchased the property in 1990s following her divorce from her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. Friends have previously told the Daily Mail that Camilla, who married Charles in 2005, "can be herself" at Ray Mill House. According to the outlet, "It is where she retreated after the state funeral and mourning period that followed the death of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022 and where she spends as much time as she can when not required to be at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire and Clarence House in London, the official homes she shares with Charles."
The Princess of Wales photographed her husband's stepmother in the gardens of the house for Camilla's 2022 Country Life cover. The magazine described Ray Mill's 12 acres of tended grounds as having "an intimacy and idiosyncracy that can only come from a personal connection," and noted that "every area of the garden is part and parcel of a home, where lives are lived and shared, rather than a horticultural showpiece existing primarily for the admiring gaze." Camilla revealed to Country Life that she's had her painted tiger in every garden that she's owned.
In March of 2025, it was reported that King Charles purchased the Old Mill estate next to his wife's private home using private funds, in order to prevent it from being turned into a wedding venue. According to the Daily Mail at the time, the Old Mill was now going to be "installed with a 'security-vetted tenant' who will ensure it is put to 'appropriate' use."
A royal source told the Daily Mail: "The new arrangement is a pragmatic solution, being both a sound financial investment and a way of maintaining Her Majesty's privacy, protection and continued enjoyment of her much-loved home, without any public funds being used."
Camilla was photographed "relaxed" in the garden of Ray Mill House in a portrait released on the eve of her 78th birthday. Photographer Chris Jackson wrote on Instagram that Her Majesty was "pictured here happy and relaxed at home." Another portrait of the Queen, seemingly taken the same day as her birthday photo, was released days earlier, showing the Queen in the garden again with her adorable rescue dog Moley.