Prince Charles, wife to visit war memorial
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-04 20:35

Charles, who has called in the past for a greater understanding of Islam from the West, met representatives of Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups at Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

The weeklong tour, designed to bolster trans-Atlantic ties and promote Charles' environmentalist causes, also represents a coming-out for Camilla. The 58-year-old married the prince in April after a relationship that stretched back three decades — and was interrupted by their marriages to others. For many fans of the late Princess Diana, she remains the woman who broke up the fairy-tale royal romance, although both Charles and Diana acknowledged having affairs during a marriage that ended in divorce in 1996. Diana died in a car crash in Paris the following year.

The spotlight-shy Camilla made a rare public speech after meeting doctors working to treat osteoporosis and patients of the bone disease at the National Institutes of Health.

It is an issue close to her heart. "I first became involved with osteoporosis after both my mother and my grandmother died as a result of this devastating disease," said the duchess, who is patron of Britain's National Osteoporosis Society.

Addressing about 40 researchers with her husband by her side, Camilla pointed out the "horrifying" statistics about the disease, which affects half of all women over 50 in Britain.

The U.S. tour, which began Tuesday in New York, also includes a visit to San Francisco.