Tom Parker Bowles: Being made a prince would spark a revolution
Queen Camilla's son, Tom Parker Bowles, believes there would be a "revolution" if he was named prince.
Queen Camilla's son believes there would be a "revolution" if he was named prince.
Tom Parker Bowles insisted it would be an "appalling" move if he had gained a title when his stepfather King Charles took the throne in 2023 and would "put back" the institution of the monarchy by decades.
Asked about the possibility, Tom joked he would keep his "original name" and told the Good Food Podcast: “I tell you, that would be the quickest way to revolution.
“I think we’re a fairly balanced and sober and sensible country on the whole. But if I suddenly became prince, I think that Buckingham Palace gates would be stormed.
“It would be appalling. I think that would put back the long and glorious cause of the monarchy in Britain by many years.”
The 50-year-old food writer - who is the eldest child of the queen and her ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles - praised the king as a "fountain of knowledge" and a "hero of British farmers".
He added: "He has forgotten more than I will ever know”.
Tom also discussed the "incredible" thrill of getting to hold the Crown Jewels when Charles and Camilla were preparing for the coronation ceremony.
He said: “They had some of the Crown Jewels, because the King and my mother had to practise carrying [them] ... and it was just, I think it was the sceptre, or the diadem, I can’t remember.
“Anyway, just to hold it briefly was – you’re holding history, you’re holding 800 or 900 years of history, it’s incredible.”
The restaurant critic and his sister Laura Lopes had a "very traditional" upbringing in Wiltshire and Tom praised Camilla as a great "natural" cook.
He said: “I had a very traditional – albeit very happy and privileged – upbringing. It was a classic comfortable English upbringing.
Discussing the queen’s cooking, he added: “She’s a great cook, a natural cook, and there weren’t many spices… it was very, very traditional. I grew up in Wiltshire in the ’70s and early ’80s. We’d have English food.”
Tom was asked if being around the royal family had "changed his tastes".
He replied: “Not really, no.”
