Tom Parker Bowles, the oldest child of Queen Camilla, has hit out at the reputation that his mother has gained – and cleared up one common misconception about her
Queen Camilla’s son has hit out at the reputation that’s plagued his mother – clearing up one common misconception.
Tom Parker Bowles is Camilla’s oldest child from her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles, her husband before she married King Charles. He’s now a prominent food writer and critic and has recently released a new book on the royals and their relationship with food featuring several royal recipes.
And during an interview to promote his latest project, Tom, a stepson and godson of King Charles, was asked if he knew about his mother’s reputation for being a smoker and a lover of drinking gin.
Speaking to The Times, he revealed he had indeed heard the rumours – but hit out at them and said she has “Never drunk a glass of gin in her life. Doesn’t smoke.” When asked if that rumour was down to her portrayal in the Channel 4 comedy show The Windsors, he added: “I think so.”
Tom’s comments come as he also labelled his mum a no nonsense ‘grafter’ who gets on with the job. He said becoming Queen has not changed his mother and when most people are retiring, the 77-year-old is “going full tilt”.
The author joked how Camilla would often tell him to “get on with it” and if he had an issue in his life she would tell him to “not moan about it” if he had a problem. Speaking on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio UK this week, Tom, 49, also praised his mother Camilla’s work ethic.
Tom replied: “I don’t think it’s really changed – you’ve seen her a hundred times – she hasn’t changed. I think her job description has perhaps changed. Her job has massively changed. Most people are retiring at her age and she’s going full tilt. She’s a grafter. She was a great mother. When you have to do stuff, she says ‘Just get on with it, do it, don’t talk about it, don’t moan about it.'”
Tom, whose latest cookbook, Cooking and the Crown, details the history of food within the royal family – from the reign of Queen Victoria beginning in 1837 and Edward VII at the turn of the century, to Charles and Camilla, also discussed the King and Queen’s love of mushrooms. When Evans said he wished he knew “more about foraging them”, Tom replied: “Wild mushrooms are just wonderful.
“I don’t know enough. I only know three kinds of mushrooms… there are a couple of serious foragers, actually, and I’m not just plugging it here, my mother and the King are good mushroomers, mycologists.
“They really know their stuff. In Scotland, I go with my mother and she knows her stuff about mushrooms but I wouldn’t… you pick the wrong one, you’re dead.” Last week the writer paid tribute to his mum by labelling her ‘tough’ for being by the King’s side this year following his health problems.
Buckingham Palace announced in February that Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer, but Parker Bowles confirmed his “doctor says the treatment is going well”. He also praised the King for being a recycling champion who “appalls waste”.