He praised the Queen’s stoic approach to weathering that period of intense public criticism: “There have been times that haven’t been so wonderful, but my mother just gets on with it, in that sort of English way: ‘Never complain, never explain’, and just get on with it.”
Mr Parker Bowles made clear that the shift in public sentiment towards Camilla has not erased the family’s memories of how difficult those years were, though he credited her consistency of character throughout it all.
The family’s closeness, he explained, extends across both his mother’s and father’s sides, with parents, siblings, aunts and cousins all maintaining strong bonds despite the remarriages. Mr Parker Bowles described gathering for meals as the glue holding everything together.
“However bad it gets for anyone, we can always gather together at my aunt’s house, or my sister’s house, or my mother’s house, or my father’s house, and have a good dinner or lunch and laugh and gossip, and this is what matters,” he said.