Queen Camilla has a rather unexpected talent — and according to her son, Tom Parker Bowles, it was born out of necessity.
Speaking at the Braemar Literary Festival, and reported by the Press and Journal, the food writer revealed that his mother became a capable home cook while raising him and his sister Laura, partly because his father was frequently away with the army.
There was no fancy culinary training and no royal kitchen involved.
Camilla simply cooked.
Again and again.
And over the years, those everyday family meals turned her into a confident cook with a particular talent for classic British comfort food.
Camilla’s Favourite Dish? Keep It Simple
Forget elaborate royal banquets.
Tom says his mother prefers food that is straightforward, comforting and completely unfussy.
Her roast chicken is a particular favourite.
The secret?
A good-quality chicken, plenty of butter and a lemon tucked into the neck cavity before the bird goes into the oven.
That’s it.
No complicated tricks. No elaborate sauces. Just a traditional roast done properly.
Tom has also revealed that Camilla is particularly fond of toast and makes what he describes as “amazing scrambled eggs”.
Her approach to food appears to be much the same as her approach to life away from royal duties — simple, familiar and without unnecessary fuss.
The Cheeky Lemon Trick
There is also a rather cheekier story behind Camilla’s famous roast chicken.
Tom has previously recalled his mother giving cooking advice with a characteristically mischievous sense of humour, including a memorable joke about exactly where to put the lemon.
Unsurprisingly, that sort of language became less suitable once Camilla stepped into one of the most scrutinised roles in Britain.
But it offers a glimpse of the woman behind the formal royal image.
Before the palace appearances, state occasions and endless cameras, Camilla was a country mother cooking dinner for her children.
She Was a Hands-On Mum Too
Tom’s memories go well beyond food.
He has recalled Camilla reading to him and Laura every night when they were children.
There is, however, one area where she apparently loses out to King Charles.
Tom joked that his mother is “probably not a natural actor” when reading stories aloud.
Charles, by contrast, is said to throw himself into the job, performing different voices for his grandchildren when reading books such as Harry Potter.
So while Camilla may not be the family’s greatest bedtime performer, she clearly made reading part of her children’s daily routine.
The More Down-to-Earth Side of the Queen
These details paint a very different picture from the formal image associated with the Queen.
Instead of state dinners and palace receptions, Tom’s memories revolve around roast chicken, scrambled eggs, bedtime stories and ordinary family life.
That may be exactly why the anecdotes have attracted so much attention.
For all the ceremony surrounding the modern monarchy, stories like these reveal a more familiar side of Camilla — a mother who cooked family dinners because someone had to, read to her children at night and developed her kitchen skills through years of simply getting on with it.
Camilla’s Royal Kitchen Secret?
There may be nothing particularly glamorous about Camilla’s cooking.
And that’s precisely what makes the story so appealing.
Her signature roast chicken doesn’t require expensive ingredients or complicated techniques. According to her son, the formula is remarkably simple: buy a good bird, rub it with butter, add a lemon and let the oven do the work.
For someone now living at the heart of the British monarchy, it’s a surprisingly ordinary recipe.
But perhaps that’s the point.
Behind the royal robes and palace walls is a woman whose culinary skills were developed the old-fashioned way — by cooking dinner for her family, night after night.