King Charles has been praised by his wife Queen Camilla’s former daughter-in-law Sara Buys for his style of formal yet caring step-grandparenting.
The Queen has two children, Tom and Laura, with her ex-husband Andrew Parker-Bowles, with Tom marrying Sara and having children Lola and Freddy before their divorce was finalised in 2022.
Although she is no longer related to the royals by marriage, Sara still had plenty of good things to say about the family, particularly aftet the King made a special request regarding Lola’s birthday present.
In an interview with the Daily Mail Sara explained how she received an email from His Majesty’s secretary just before her daughter’s birthday enquiring about a gift for her, as he wanted to be sure he got her something she would like.
She said: “It said the King would like to know what Lola wants for her birthday. It felt medieval, like something out of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. I thought, ‘I’m never going to get used to this’.”
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In spite of her divorce Sara revealed that her children are still very close to the King and Queen, although Camilla’s new status had taken some getting used to.
She added: “It was definitely surreal that she’s now Queen. It makes things different. It’s going to be something hard for us to manage.
“It probably helps our kids are the age they are where they just don’t care. That’s refreshing and that irreverence helps you keep things in perspective.
The fashion journalist noted that public opinion of Camilla had become dramatically more positive over the last few years, something which had come as a relief to her son Tom.
No matter the circumstances between her and her ex-husband, Sara said Camilla is always an amazing grandmother and her family absolutely comes first.
She concluded: “She’s a really good granny, very hands-on and she’s never been anything but nice to me. If Tom and I are arguing, it’s between us. The long-term relationship between her and her grandchildren is what’s important and that’s never changed.”
Sara married Tom on September 10 2005 after five years of dating, with their daughter Lola being born in 2007 followed by son Freddy in 2010.
They separated in 2018 and their divorce was finalised in 2022, although they remain on good terms, and Freddy served as one of his grandmother Camilla’s Pages of Honour at the Coronation.
Camilla has three other grandchildren through her daughter Laura Lopes and her husband Harry – Eliza, born in 2008, and twins Gus and Louis, born in 2009.
