Camilla might now be the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, but she’s still a grandmother, and like any grandparent, she loves to spoil her grandchildren.
The Queen has five grandchildren via her two children, Tom Parker-Bowles and Laura Lopes, who were born from her previous marriage to British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles.
Tom has a daughter, Lola, born in October 2007, and a son, Freddy, born in February 2010, with his ex-wife, Sara Parker Bowles. Laura has three children with her husband, Harry Lopes: Eliza, born in January 2008, and twin boys, Gus and Louis, born in December 2009. Freddy, Gus and Louis also served as their grandmother's pages of honour at the coronation of King Charles III.
Queen Camilla also shares a close relationship with her step-grandchildren. She is a step-grandmother to Prince William and Princess Kate’s three children, George, 11, Charlotte, 10, and Louis, seven, as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archie, six, and Lilibet, four. This takes the royal to a grand total of 10 grandchildren.
Last week, the Queen took her five grandchildren from her first marriage for an intimate bonding experience, as she does every year. This time, the day out involved a sweet and unusual treat in London.
The group visited luxury designer brand Anya Hindmarch’s pop-up ice-cream shop in Belgravia and tried some interesting ice-cream flavours, to say the least.
They took part in a blind-testing session, where they tried different unique flavours and had to try to identify them before comparing notes and finding out the truth.
The flavours on offer included Irn-Bru, Bird’s Custard, Garner’s Pickled Onions, Bisto Gravy, Copella Cloudy Apple Juice, McVitie’s Club Orange, Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the seemingly very popular Flying Goose Sriracha.
The experience called ‘Ice Cream Project Blind Tasting Tea’ is available until September 7 and costs £45 per person. During the session, visitors will be able to try 15 different flavours, including Maldon Sea Salt sorbet, McVitie’s Milk Chocolate HobNobs, Ovaltine, Quaker Oats, Romney’s Kendal Mint Cake, Rowse Honey and Jacob’s Twiglets.
The Queen was careful to protect her grandchildren's privacy during the visit, and nobody disturbed the group that was able to enjoy the fun flavours undisturbed before taking home quite a few tubs to share with the rest of the family.
The pop-up has become an annual occurrence since its first successful launch in 2022, when the brand made headlines with their Heinz Baked Beans-flavoured ice cream, which had people queuing for hours.
The parlour got so popular over the years that it even got the Queen’s attention, or at least her grandchildren’s.