The son of Camilla, the queen consort, has defended her against claims she played an “end game” in her relationship with the future king, maintaining she had simply “married the person she loved”.
The food writer Tom Parker Bowles said: “I think change happens but I don’t care what anyone says – this wasn’t any sort of end game. She married the person she loved and this is what happened.”
His remarks, made on the News Agents podcast, will be seen as countering allegations by his stepbrother, the Duke of Sussex, who was highly critical of Camilla in his memoir Spare.
In the book Harry described Camilla as “dangerous” and of sacrificing him and his brother on the altar of her PR as part of a “long game” aimed at marriage and the crown.
Asked if his mother would be anxious in the run-up to the coronation on 6 May, Parker Bowles told the podcast hosts, Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel, it was tough to take on such a role during the ceremony but “she’s never complained”.
“I think anyone would be anxious on an occasion of this sort of importance in terms of the historical. And yes, I think I’d be terrified if I had to sort of walk out wearing ancient robes … ” he said. “She’s 75, but you know, it’s tough to do it. But she’s never complained. You just do it. Get on with it.”
He said it was not really weird to think of Camilla as “the Queen”, “because she’s still our mother. I say ‘our’ but not the royal ‘we’, speaking for my sister and me. She’s our mother.”
While she will be crowned Queen Camilla, he himself would not be getting a title, he joked. “You’re not going to find us with great estates and being called the duke of whatever. No. That would be appalling.”
He also backed the right to protest when asked if he was worried about anti-monarchy demonstrations on coronation day. “Everyone has the right to think what they want … Going back to Extinction Rebellion and Animal Rebellion and Republic whatever it is, everyone has a right to their say,” he said.
“We live in, thankfully, a free country … If people want to protest that’s their right to do so.”
The Republic campaign group plans to stage the largest protest in its history by lining the coronation procession route and gathering in Trafalgar Square.
In interviews to promote his book, Harry called Camilla a “villain” and spoke of bodies being “left in the street” during her image rehabilitation. He claimed he and Prince William pleaded with their father not to marry Camilla, saying: “He didn’t answer. But she answered. Straight away. Shortly after our private summits with her, she began to play the long game.
“A campaign aimed at marriage, and eventually the crown, with Pa’s blessing we presumed.”
Parker Bowles, when asked if there had been panic over fears Harry and the Duchess of Sussex would not attend the coronation, replied: “Nothing to do with me at all, though I did ask if Harry Kane was going as captain of England.” The prince has confirmed he will attend but Meghan will stay at home.
The full interview is available on the News Agents podcast on Global Player from 5pm on Thursday.
