Queen Camilla does not smoke anymore - but did make a rare health confession to a famous actress
The royal made a rare confession to a famous face...While there are some aspects of the lives of the royal family only insiders know, members of The Firm have been opening up about their health over recent years. From King Charles and Princess Kate’s cancer diagnoses, to the Duke of Sussex discussing mental health – they’re becoming an open book. However, when it comes to the past, it’s not always that easy – but Queen Camilla herself has made rare admissions previously about her old smoking habit, so how does she feel about the fact she used to smoke now?
The late Queen Elizabeth II was anti-smoking, especially after her father King George VI died of lung cancer in 1952. Three other monarchs before him, George BV, Edward VII and Edward VIII died from illnesses related to smoking as well.
However, there were many royals who were notoriously known for the habit. Her sister, Princess Margaret was said to be a heavy smoker, with rumours claiming at one point she had up to ’60 cigarettes a day’, before undergoing a lung operation in 1985.
Royal family and smoking
It seems the late Queen and the then Prince of Wales wanted to take a stance against smoking. It’s reported in 1998, Charles took a huge step for the family by revoking the royal warrant to tobacco firm Gallaher and urging other members of the family to give up the habit – however, at the time his future wife Queen Camilla did smoke.
The Duke of Edinburgh was another former smoker, being photographed holding a cigar next to Lord Mountbatten during his bachelor party in 1947.
Brian Kozlowski wrote in his book Long Live the Queen: 23 Rules For Living From Britain’s Longest Reigning Monarch, that her husband Prince Philip also smoked. He said: “Understandably, Elizabeth was adamant that Philip give up the habit that wreaked her father’s health.”
His valet later said he gave it up “suddenly” on the morning of his wedding to Elizabeth.
Kozlowski penned: “Previously a heavy smoker himself, Philip obliged with phenomenal efficiency, going from a pack a day to quitting cold turkey on his wedding day.”
Prince Harry was also a smoker, admitting to in his memoir Spare, saying it started as a schoolboy at Elton with his mates. The royal confessed it led him to weed, among trying other drugs, and it helped him cope with the death of his mother.
The Duke wrote: “Sure, I fancied a cig after a McDonald’s, who didn’t? But if we were going to bunk off, I’d much prefer heading over to Windsor Castle golf course, knocking a ball around, while drinking a wee beer.
“Still, like a robot, I took every cig offered me, and in the same automatic, unthinking way, I soon graduated to weed.”
Queen Camilla smoking
Queen Camilla was seen smoking before she married King Charles in 2005. Reports said that footmen were instructed to place silver cigarette boxes in every room, containing her favourite brand.
Brian Hoey reported in his 2012 book, Not in Front of the Corgis, that match boxes would have to be placed upright nearby so that she didn’t have to look around for a light when she fancied one.
Royal biographer Angela Levin also claimed Camilla was a regular at Annabel’s dining club in London. The Mayfair club was home to the “world’s most luxurious cigar room”.
It’s said she smoked 40 cigarettes a day.
Read more: What will really happen to Queen Camilla when Prince William becomes king
Does Queen Camilla still smoke?
No, Queen Camilla does not still smoke – she admitted she gave up around 2001, a few years before she wed Charles.
She has long been rumoured to be a smoker, but set the record straight when she had a candid conversation with actress Emily Mortimer. Camilla knew the star’s mother and when they met she asked how she was doing.
Emily replied: “Oh, she’s still smoking as much as ever.”
Camilla replied: “Oh, she’s still on the fags [cigarettes]?”
But the Mary Poppins star replied: “Oh, have you quit the fags?”
And the Queen confirmed: “Oh yes, I quit 20 yers ago,” and Emily told her “well done”.
Her son Tom Parker Bowles also told The Times the year before that the ‘reputation’ his mother has isn’t true at all.
He said: “Oh, you know she has that reputation of drinking gin and smoking? Never drunk a glass of gin in her life. Doesn’t smoke.”
Camilla also reportedly told a friend: “It wasn’t so much me giving up smoking, rather smoking giving up on me.”
Read more: Queen Camilla’s mother Rosalind Shand – ‘Debutante’, philanthropist and dying to ‘silent disease’
What do you think of this story? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page.
