Duchess of Cornwall speaks of heartbreak over watching elderly mother die of osteoporosis

She describes her anguish as her beloved ‘Mama’, the Honourable Rosalind Shand, endured a “slow and agonising death” from the fragile-bone disease.

As president of the National Osteoporosis Society (NOS), the Duchess revealed she had chosen “to put her head above the parapet” and call for doctors to treat the condition more seriously.

Her words are all the more poignant because not only did she lose her 72-year-old mother to the debilitating hereditary disease in 1994, but also her maternal grandmother, Sonia Keppel.

In an emotional article for the Daily Mail newspaper, The Duchess, 64, who is not understood to be showing any signs of developing the disease herself, said: “Seeing someone you love die slowly, in agony, and knowing nothing about the disease that killed them is heart-breaking.

“In those days osteoporosis, a crippling bone disease, was seldom discussed, rarely diagnosed and usually attributed to old women with so-called “Dowager's humps”.

“My family and I watched in horror as my mother quite literally shrank in front of our eyes. She lost about eight inches in height and became so bent that she was unable to digest her food properly, leaving her with no appetite at all.

“The local GP was kind and sympathetic but he, like us, was able to do little to alleviate the terrible pain Mama suffered so stoically. In her later years she could not breathe without oxygen or totter around her beloved garden on her Zimmer frame.

“I believe that the quality of her life became so dismal, and her suffering so unbearable, that she just gave up the fight and lost the will to live.”

Today, three million people have been officially diagnosed with the disease, including an increasing number of young people in their 20s and 30s.

Research suggests that some 1,150 sufferers die each month through a lack of early diagnosis and treatment. Catching the illness early allows sufferers to take simple steps such as eating calcium-rich food and exercising to help prevent its progression.

NOS is campaigning to bring down the shocking number of deaths each month as a result of fragile bones. Research shows that more people in the UK suffer fractures due to fragile bones than there are heart attacks.

Camilla, who is celebrating her tenth year as the president of the NOS, added: “This charity is unique in giving help and advice to sufferers and their families as well as looking after its 25,000 members.

“It was my first ever patronage, and I’m happy to say I am still flying the flag — even to the point of dancing the cha cha with Strictly Come Dancing’s Craig Revel Horwood, one of our recent patrons!

“But as the research into osteoporosis has unfolded, the horrific statistics show that half of all women and one in five men (yes, men have it, too) over 50 will suffer a fracture.

“Every year there are more fractures due to fragile bones than there are heart attacks, and it costs a staggering £6 million a day in hospital and social care for hip fractures alone.”