Author Robert Hardman’s anecdote in Charles III: New King. New Court underlines a quality that has won her fans the world over.
He tells how the Prime Minister described Camilla as “uproariously funny” and said his abiding memory of a weekend stay at Balmoral was “laughing a lot with her”.
The Queen’s sister Annabel Elliot, 74, has previously said Camilla has never lost the mischievous sense of fun she has had since childhood.
She believes it is her humour that helps navigate her through the demands of her role.
Actress and film boss Emerald Fennell admitted to being a bag of nerves when she met the Queen, 76 – then Duchess of Cornwall – at an International Women’s Day gathering at Clarence House in March 2022.
Saltburn director Emerald, 38, had just portrayed Camilla as a chain-smoking man-eater in the third series of TV’s The Crown and was worried she would get a frosty reception.
Instead, the Queen was warm and friendly – and even joked that Emerald could step in should she mess up the speech she was about to deliver.
The late Paul O’Grady, 67 – who developed a close friendship with Camilla – described her as “a really funny woman, somebody
you can have a great laugh with”.
And King Charles’s cousin Sarah Troughton, 70, Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, revealed she loves to hear – and tell – very risque and naughty jokes.
