Tom Parker Bowles has lifted the lid on the cooking of his mother, Queen Camilla, and the meals they ate at home while he was growing up.
Describing Camilla as a “good, basic cook”, he said she perfected slow-cooked scrambled eggs (always on the Aga) and roast chicken – but steered clear of all spice and curries.
Never following a recipe, she relied on “very, very simple food” while providing meals for Tom and his sister Laura at their home near Chippenham in Wiltshire.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent’s editor-in-chief, Geordie Greig, the renowned food writer discussed everything from his fondest childhood food memories to the one meal that causes Buckingham Palace to grind to a halt.
His latest cookbook, Cooking and the Crown, follows the history of food within the royal family – from the grand banquets of Queen Victoria to the more thoughtful approach adopted by modern-day monarchs.
His mother’s best recipes, including her simple guide to porridge and chicken broth, are included, alongside some of the King’s favourite dishes.
Recalling a happy home which relied on local and seasonal food until Sainsbury’s arrived in 1980, leading him to Monster Munch crisps and Ice Magic chocolate sauce, he explained how his mother always favoured plain English food.
“She was a good cook,” he said. “A good, basic cook. Roast chicken, salads and scrambled eggs – all that very English stuff.
“We had no spice whatsoever in our upbringing. We didn’t have curries. The only spice in the house might’ve been a tiny old dusty tin of curry powder for some disgusting coronation chicken occasionally and a bottle of old Tabasco for a Bloody Mary. That was the only spice.”
But when Parker Bowles moved onto prep school however, he realised just how bad some food can be, describing the breakfast provided as a “study in sadism” with “ice hockey puck eggs” that tasted of fish and “scummy flaps of bacon”.
Ironically, it was this experience that catapulted the 49-year-old into his career as a food writer as he developed an “obsession” with good food – when he could find it.
Despite being the Queen’s eldest son, Parker Bowles says the book is the first time he has used his royal connections in his career.
“[It’s been] 25 years of completely keeping away from the royals full stop,” he said. “If I had immediately gone right, I’m doing a royal cookbook, it would have been seen as – well I’m not a baby anymore – but nepo middle-aged perhaps.
“So I thought 25 years of food writing, a quarter of a century, I’ve just about built up enough to say it’s interesting enough.”
Originally, the book was only set to cover recipes from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II, giving Parker Bowles a “degree of separation”, as he had only met the late monarch twice.
Speaking about the first time he met Queen Elizabeth, he said: “When I was eight, I was so scared that I curtsied rather than bowed.
“The second time was in my mother’s wedding in Windsor and my sister and I had snuck out for a fag or something and got lost and suddenly heard this voice saying, ‘are you okay?’”
He added: “Obviously she was magnetic and lovely and she was the Queen, the most famous person in the world. We just followed like two rather terrified but awestruck puppies as she went down the hall with the dogs.”
When the late Queen died, the contents of the cookbook became “closer to home”, with recipes from his mother and some of the King’s favourite meals including a green omelette, though Parker Bowles says he is conscious about “not stepping over any line into privacy”.
He notes how the King’s approach is much lighter than those of his ancestors. Queen Victoria, famously dubbed the greedy Queen, would indulge in 12 breakfast dishes, eight to 12 courses for lunch and 10 to 14 dishes for dinner.
Known instead for his reluctance to waste food, Charles has become known as the “king of the countryside” amongst British farmers, thanks to his passion for sustainability and regenerative farming.
But he has kept two aspects of the past evident in royal entertaining: “State banquets – and everything stops for tea.”
Much like the kings and queens of the past, Parker Bowles’ lifestyle as a food critic involves more than the average amount of indulgence, which he has had to make adjustments to for the sake of his health.
“You start off in this food world young and fit and healthy and you can do a long lunch and long dinner. I can do a long lunch once every two weeks now and I’m suffering,” he said.
“As a food critic, it’s sort of par for the course. Blood pressure, cholesterol, I haven’t quite succumbed to gout yet but I’m sure it will happen.”
He added: “I went to my doctor and I said can I have some of this Ozempic stuff please and he just went ‘f*** off’, because apparently you feel sick all the time when you have it and I just thought it was easy.
“He said it’s not to be abused, it’s for my serious people. He said, do more exercise, eat less, drink less. You can’t be a food critic and have Ozempic as well because it curbs your appetite.”
‘Cooking And The Crown’ by Tom Parker Bowles (Aster, £30). Available here.
