The Royal Family is known for maintaining friendly relationships with their exes (just look at Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson), and Queen Camilla shares a similarly amicable rapport with her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. However, it turns out the former "lothario" of the aristocratic set inspired a character in a popular new Disney+ series—and Camilla was the first to check it out.
According to the Times, Queen Camilla "adored Rivals, the racy television adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s novel." The show is a small screen version of Cooper's 1988 novel of the same name, which follows womanizing Olympic show jumper turned politician Rupert Campbell-Black—whose character was inspired by none other than Andrew Parker Bowles, 84.
The Queen married her first husband in 1973 and shares two children, Laura Lopes and Tom Parker Bowles—who are set to join the Royal Family at Christmas for the first time this year—with Andrew, who is a retired British Army officer and used to date Princess Anne. Although Her Majesty and Parker Bowles divorced in 1995, they maintain an amicable relationship.
In terms of aristocratic circles, former polo player and amateur jockey Parker Bowles also counts Princess Anne and Rivals novelist Cooper as close pals. "He's been a great friend for a long time...so he's very like Rupert. He's beautiful and blond and stunning," the author—who is also a friend of Queen Camilla's—said of her character Rupert Campbell-Black during an October episode of the How to Fail podcast.
Understandably, Her Majesty was more curious than most to watch Rivals. In fact, "so keen was Camilla, a former horsewoman, to see the program that a preview copy was dispatched to her before it was available to the public," the media outlet continued.
Rivals is known for its sexy scenes, and as the Times noted, "In the opening scene of the television series, viewers are introduced to the naked bottom of Rupert Campbell-Black, played by Alex Hassell, while he joins the mile high club in a Concorde toilet cubicle."
If you're picturing Queen Camilla and King Charles curled up on the sofa awkwardly watching her fictional ex-husband get busy on Disney+, you might be disappointed. According to the Times, Jilly Cooper's steamy show isn't quite his cup of tea.
The King "is known to use a tablet on which he is more likely to watch documentaries that have been recommended to him by friends," the outlet reported. However, Queen Camilla has apparently managed to convince him to watch a rather more serious book adaptation, with The King said to be a fan of the BBC's Tudor drama Wolf Hall.
“If he has been known as a bit of an Eeyore character in the past, then The Queen brings out his inner Tigger," a palace source said of Charles and Camilla's relationship.
Hopefully The King will be feeling more like Tigger as he heads to Sandringham House for the holiday season. His Majesty will welcome more than 45 members of the family for Christmas this year, including everyone from Prince William and Princess Kate to Princess Beatrice and her family, who are last-minute additions to the list after her pregnancy forced her to stay closer to home for the holidays.
Along with watching The King's annual Christmas speech—which breaks tradition with its filming location this year—Charles and Camilla will enjoy country walks, church services and plenty of silly gifts on Christmas Eve.
Perhaps Camilla can also convince Charles to watch an episode or two of Rivals while they're in Norfolk.
