Tom Parker Bowles has barely seen mom Queen Camilla with a drink in her hand — despite how the royal family member has been portrayed in pop culture.
“She has that reputation of drinking gin and smoking,” Tom, 49, said during an interview with the U.K.’s The Times published Saturday, September 28, in which he was promoting his new cookbook, Cooking and the Crown: Royal Recipes from Queen Victoria to King Charles III. “Never drunk a glass of gin in her life. Doesn’t smoke.”
The publication brought up the Channel 4 show The Windsors, which is a soap opera reimagining of the royal family. Late actress Haydn Gwynne played a fictionalized version of Camilla, 77, in the show.
“Sadly, the woman who played my mum died,” Tom told The Times. “She was really brilliant. But my mother hardly drinks. Never seen her so much as tipsy.”
Tom made it clear that the show’s portrayal of Camilla was “fine” but made it clear that it’s “totally inaccurate.”
Camilla shares Tom with ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles, whom she was married to from 1973 to 1995. The pair also share daughter Laura, 46.
It’s been widely reported that Camilla and now-husband King Charles III had an affair during their respective marriages. He was married to the late Princess Diana at the time. Camilla and Charles, 75, took their relationship public in 1997 and got married in 2005. She became the queen consort when Charles took the throne following his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September 2022.
In a separate interview, Tom said that he has not seen any significant change in his mom since she took on the new title — but one thing is different.
“I think her job description has perhaps changed,” he said during a Tuesday, October 2, appearance on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show. “Her job has massively changed. Most people are retiring at her age, and she’s going full tilt.”
Tom praised his mom for being “a grafter,” which is British slang for a hard worker.
“She was a great mother,” he added. “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 also praised his mom last month for staying strong amid Charles’ cancer battle. While his type of cancer has been kept under wraps, news of Charles’ health crisis was announced earlier this year.
“[The] doctor says the treatment is going well,” Tom told Daily Express on September 24 of his stepfather’s ongoing chemotherapy. “She’s tough, my mother.”
