NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
Queen Camilla<\/a>‘s son Tom Parker Bowles<\/a> and his sister, Laura Lopes, won’t be celebrating Christmas with the royals this year.\n<\/p>\n On Dec. 5, Richard Eden of the Daily Mail<\/a> reported that Tom, 50, told him that he and Laura, 47,\u00a0 won’t be ringing in the holiday with their mother, King Charles<\/a> and other members of the royal family at Sandringham.\n<\/p>\n “I\u2019m not [spending Christmas at Sandringham]. Nor is my sister. It\u2019ll be every other year, one year on, one year off,” Tom told the outlet.\n<\/p>\n As for his holiday plans this year, the food writer said he will be sleeping in the London living room of his ex-wife, Sara Buys, with whom he shares children, Lola, 18, and Freddy, 15.\n<\/p>\n Laura Lopes, Queen Camilla and Tom Parker Bowles at the launch of his book, “Cooking and the Crown,” in London on Sept. 5, 2024.<\/p>\n Dave Benett\/Getty<\/p>\n “It\u2019s back to the sofa at my ex-wife\u2019s,” Tom said about where he’ll be instead.\n<\/p>\n Tom and Laura are Queen Camilla’s children with her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles<\/a>, and King Charles is Tom’s godfather. Charles and Camilla were romantically linked before they married other people (Charles was wed to Princess Diana<\/a>), remained friends and later rekindled their romance, marrying in 2005.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Last year, the author of multiple cookbooks, including Cooking and the Crown<\/a>, told The Telegraph<\/a> that his mother insisted he attend the royal Christmas gathering, sharing that he planned to celebrate Christmas with the royals at Sandringham for the first time<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n “My mum said, \u2018I\u2019d love you to come, I haven\u2019t had Christmas with you for a long time,'” Tom said in December 2024.\n<\/p>\n “I genuinely know nothing about it,” he added about the protocol around the royal holiday. “But I know there\u2019s turkey and sprouts and church. And I have to bring a suit and a dinner jacket.”\n<\/p>\n Queen Camilla and King Charles lead the royal family’s walk to church at St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham, Norfolk on Dec. 25, 2024.<\/p>\n OLI SCARFF\/AFP via Getty<\/p>\n Tom also mentioned that the invitation to attend the royal family’s Christmas had always been there, but that his mother was especially keen for him to accept then.\n<\/p>\n “It has been a hell of a two years for them,” Tom told The Telegraph, referencing the King’s cancer diagnosis and treatment<\/a> and the Queen’s bout with pneumonia<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n “The older you get, the more conscious you become of mortality, especially with illnesses and the rest of it,” he said.\n<\/p>\n