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Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Lifestyle
Amy Mackelden

How One "Embarrassing Mishap" Showed Queen Camilla's "True Colors" at a Royal Event

Queen Camilla wearing a fedora with a blue band and pale blue coat.

As the wife of The King, Queen Camilla spends much of her life attending official royal engagements and events. According to one celebrity who attended an engagement at Camilla's London residence, Clarence House, The Queen's "true colors" became evident following an allegedly "embarrassing mishap," via the Express.

Speaking to the Observer, BBC Radio DJ Sara Cox said of Camilla, "Yes, she's a laugh. I met her at a celebration for authors that she had at Clarence House."

Cox continued, "I mistook her daughter, Laura [Lopes], for an author that I half knew, and so I said to Laura, 'Come over. I'll introduce you to [Camilla]. Let's go over and say hi.'"

Unaware of the mistake she'd made, Cox recalled that Camilla's daughter "Laura played along." She elaborated, "[S]o we went over, and it slowly dawned on me who she was, because Camilla was like 'Hiiii' to her own daughter."

Sara Cox with Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle on February 25, 2026. (Image credit: Jonathan Brady - Pool/Getty Images)

The DJ also reflected on Queen Camilla's friendship with the late author Jilly Cooper. "It came as no surprise at all that Camilla and Jilly Cooper got on really well," Cox told the outlet. "I can see them as real kindred spirits."

Following Cooper's death in October 2025, Camilla shared a personal tribute to the Rivals author. "I was so saddened to learn of Dame Jilly's death last night," she wrote. "Very few writers get to be a legend in their own lifetime but Jilly was one, creating a whole new genre of literature and making it her own through a career that spanned over five decades."

Camilla continued, "In person she was a wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many—and it was a particular pleasure to see her just a few weeks ago at my Queen's Reading Room Festival where she was, as ever, a star of the show."

Finally, The Queen wrote, "I join my husband The King in sending our thoughts and sympathies to all her family. And may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs."

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