Camilla does not watch The Crown says Tom Parker Bowles

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Tom Parker Bowles, a food writer and critic, is the Duchess of Cornwall’s eldest child from her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles. His parents had a tumultuous marriage which saw both of them engage in extensive extramarital affairs. Camilla and Prince Charles first dated in the Seventies, before she decided to settle down with her previous long-term boyfriend Andrew.

However, just a few years into Charles’ marriage with Princess Diana, the former flames resumed their relationship, culminating in a divorce between Camilla and Andrew in 1995 — and a divorce between the Prince and Princess of Wales the following year.

Camilla and Charles then spent the next decade gradually bringing their relationship into the spotlight before announcing they were going to marry in 2005.

While their complicated relationship history has led to some criticism from royal watchers, Tom revealed how Charles is very much a key part of his family now.

He told Australian news programme A Current Affair that he had “always adored” his stepfather — and that his two children Lola and Freddy call the future monarch “Umpa”.

Speaking in 2015 — when both his children were under 10 — he continued: “All you care about your parents is they’re happy and my mother is exceptionally happy at the moment.

“I’ve always adored my stepfather; he’s always been a kind and good and lovely man.

“He is a man of warmth, intelligence and humanity and I think if it ever happens, he will make a fantastic King.”

Tom was equally complimentary towards his mother.

He said Camilla is “great fun” and “never worried” about him when he was growing up, meaning she often played the “good cop” to his father’s “bad cop” when Tom was in trouble.

Discussing the furore which sometimes still surrounded Charles’ relationship with Camilla, Tom dismissed it all.

He said: “He makes my mother happy and my mother makes him happy, so that’s the main thing.”

Tom also distanced himself from the Royal Family when asked if he — or his younger sister Laura Lopes — had ever been coached by the Firm once he became Charles’ stepson.

He replied: “There was no need to be coached for me or my sister because we are not part of the Royal Family, because we’re commoners, straight-out commoners.”

He said it was just “plain common sense” that he and his sister had to “not embarrass my mother”.

Yet, Laura reportedly used to argue with Prince William behind closed doors over who had triggered the breakdown of their parents’ marriages.

Royal author Katie Nicholl claimed in her 2010 biography, ‘Harry and William’, that William used to blame Camilla for hurting Diana and Laura used to point the finger at Charles for “ruining” their lives.

She wrote: “William and Laura used to have terrible fights over who was to blame for their broken homes.”

However, they soon left these tensions in the past.

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Ms Nicholl alleged: “When they stopped blaming one another’s parents and let go of their painful pasts, Laura and William got along well.”

Camilla was the outsider on the edge of the Royal Family for years, but she has now become a reliable hard-working member of the Firm.

However, speculation remains over whether she will take the title of Queen consort when Charles inherits the throne, as both she and her husband were divorced before they tied the knot.

More recently, Tom told The Times: “I honestly don’t know if mum will be called Queen.

“There are a lot of interesting Sky documentaries about that I’m sure, but I honestly don’t know if that’s true.”

A statement from Clarence House last year read: “The intention is for the Duchess to be known as Princess Consort when the Prince accedes the throne.

“This was announced at the time of the marriage and there has been absolutely no change at all.”

Tom has experienced marital breakdown himself.

He separated from his wife of eight years, Sara Buys, in 2018, and then went on to date the late journalist Alice Procope, who tragically died from cancer in March this year.

Tom Parker Bowles will be on BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen at 10am this weekend.

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