Tom Parker Bowles – Queen Camilla’s only son – has revealed her daily food ritual with King Charles as he gave an insight into the royal couple’s life away from the public eye
Queen Camilla’s son had lifted the lid on her life behind closed doors with King Charles – and revealed the one ritual they take part in every day.
Tom Parker Bowles is Camilla’s eldest child with her ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles, to whom she was married from 1973 to 1995. He is a top food critic – and in an interview with People shared the royals’ culinary tradition. Tom said that afternoon tea at 5:00 pm is of “primary importance” for the King, adding: “It’s not just a cup of tea — it’s an entire meal. There are sandwiches, two different kinds of cake, scones, biscuits, shrimp and eggs.”
It’s a ritual the King has inherited from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Former royal chef, Darren McGrady , worked for the Royal Family for 15 years, previously revealed: “She’d always have afternoon tea wherever she was in the world . We’d flown out to Australia and were on the Royal Yacht. It was five o’clock in the morning but for the Queen it was five in the afternoon so my first job was making scones.”
Tom is currently on the promotional trail with Cooking and the Crown, a new book that includes his favourite royal recipes from Queen Victoria to King Charles. In the same interview, the father-of-two also spoke about his family life, and revealed the sweet nicknames his children Lola, 17, and Freddy, 14, have for their grandmother Camilla and King Charles – ‘Gaga and Uppa’. “They adore her,” Tom said of his mum. “They adore the King too. He has been a wonderful step-grandfather. He is such a good, nice man,” he continued. “He has his own grandchildren, obviously. The children utterly adore him. From an early age, he’s read them stories, been there, and swung them around.”
Queen Camilla previously spoke about King Charles’ special bond with his grandchildren in a documentary to celebrate his 70th birthday in 2018. “He will get down on his knees and crawl about with them for hours, you know, making funny noises and laughing and my grandchildren adore him, absolutely adore him,” she said in Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70. “He reads Harry Potter and he can do all the different voices, and I think children really appreciate that.”
Queen Camilla has five grandchildren from her two children, Tom and daughter Laura Lopes (née Parker Bowles). Tom shares daughter Lola and son Freddy with his ex-wife Sara Buys, to whom he was married from 2005 to 2018. Laura, meanwhile, shares daughter Eliza Lopes and twin sons Gus and Louis Lopes with her husband Harry Lopes. Queen Camilla’s three grandsons stepped into the royal spotlight when they served as her Pages of Honor at the coronation in May 2023. King Charles is also a grandfather of five: Prince William and Princess Kate’s three children — George, Charlotte, and Louis — and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s two kids — Archie and Lilibet.