Queen Camilla‘s son has described King Charles as a ‘great and tough man’ amid his ongoing cancer treatment – but admitted he tries to ‘keep out of’ Prince Harry and Prince William‘s feud.
Tom Parker Bowles, 49, who lives in West London, gushed about his step-father, who was diagnosed with cancer in February.
Speaking to British Vogue, the food writer – who lost his late girlfriend Alice Procope to cancer in 2021 – explained how King Charles is having the ‘best treatment’ possible.
He said: ‘Cancer, it really is a b*****d. The King’s having the best treatment. He’s a great and tough man, and you’ve just got to get on with it.’
However, the father-of-two acknowledged that it is a ‘worry’ to watch someone go through cancer treatment.
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Pictured: Tom Parker Bowles with his stepfather King Charles and mother Queen Camilla at Royal Ascot in June 2023
As such, the King’s son – whose new book Cooking & The Crown is published tomorrow – says that he has been regularly checking in with the Prince and Princess of Wales after the mother-of-three announced her own cancer diagnosis in March.
Referring to the Prince and Princess of Wales, Tom added: ‘I absolutely adore both of them.’
What’s more, the Queen’s son said that he ‘keeps out of’ Prince William and Prince Harry’s feud.
He added: ‘You just want everyone to be happy.’
In his book Spare, Prince Harry accused William of physically attacking him in a row over Meghan and claimed his brother and their father confronted him after Prince Philip’s funeral ‘looking for a fight’.
At the end of last month, the feuding brothers both attended their uncle Lord Fellowes’ funeral in Norfolk.
Despite hopes for a thawing in relations, attendees said the warring brothers appeared to be ‘keeping their distance’, did not speak to one another and ‘sat apart at the back of St Mary’s Church after arriving very discreetly’.
Lord Fellowes, who died last month, was married to Lady Jane Spencer, sister of Harry and William’s mother Diana, and was the late Queen’s private secretary.
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Tom Parker Bowles (pictured in March 2024) gushed about his step-father in an interview with British Vogue
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Pictured: Tom Parker Bowles with his step-siblings Prince William and Prince Harry on Charles and Camilla’s wedding day in 2005
Questions had been raised as to whether Harry would update the paperback edition with a new chapter – in light of the King’s cancer diagnosis and continuing family tensions – in the past 12 months.
But the fact he has chosen not to add to the revelations may be seen by some as an attempt to try and smooth over family ructions.
The last time the pair were together was for the King’s Coronation – more than a year ago. However, they were sat separately and were not pictured with one another. Before that, they were last pictured together at the late Queen’s funeral in 2022.
In March 2021, Tom Parker Bowles lost his girlfriend Alice Procope to cancer.
An insider told the Daily Mail’s Eden Confidential that, partly because of Covid, the mother-of-three’s cancer diagnosis didn’t come until last August ‘by when it was too late.’
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Camilla’s food writer son Tom Parker Bowles had been going out with former journalist Alice Procope (left, with Daily Telegraph Diarist Loise Hannah) for almost two years
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The wedding of Tom Parker Bowles and fashion writer wife Sara Buys in 2005. The pair separated in 2018
At the time, a source said Tom had been left devastated following the death of his girlfriend of two years.
His friend said: ‘Tom had been blissfully happy with Alice and is devastated that life can be so cruel.’
At school and university, Tom was subjected to many snide remarks about his parents, in particular about Camilla’s lengthy affair with Charles and its effect on Diana.
In 2018, he moved out of the Shepherd’s Bush home he shared with his fashion writer wife Sara Buys and their two children after 12 years of marriage.
Tom, whose father Andrew Parker Bowles is Camilla’s first husband, previously said he has ‘always adored’ King Charles.
He previously said: ‘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.
