CELEBRITIES
The Sweet Nickname Queen Camilla’s Grandkids Use for King Charles: They ‘Utterly Adore Him’
King Charles is called “Pa” by his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, and “Grandpa Wales” by his grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. But Queen Camilla’s grandchildren have their own special nickname for him.
Camilla’s son, Tom Parker Bowles, tells PEOPLE that his children, Lola, 16, and Freddy, 14, along with his sister Laura Lopes’ three children, refer to Camilla as “Gaga” and Charles as “Uppa.”
All of our children — my sister’s children too — have grown up with Gaga and Uppa. They’ve grown up from an early age knowing no different. [They know] Gaga as Gaga, and that she’s a really great grandmother who occasionally spoils them in a good way,” he says.
While promoting his new book, Cooking and the Crown: Royal Recipes from Queen Victoria to King Charles III (out Oct. 22), Parker Bowles adds, “They adore her. My daughter and my niece are at the age now where they ring her and text her, and are very happy doing their own thing together.”
The food writer adds, “They adore the King because he is such a good, nice man. He has been a wonderful step-grandfather too; he has his own grandchildren, obviously. The children utterly adore him. From an early age, he’s read them stories, been there, and swung them around.”
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the satirical portrayal of his mother, often depicted in shows like the comedy The Windsors as a gin-drinking cigarette smoker, is untrue.
Oh, you know she has that reputation of drinking gin and smoking?” he told The Times, adding, “Never drunk a glass of gin in her life. Doesn’t smoke.”
He continued, “My mother hardly drinks. Never seen her so much as tipsy,” adding that depiction was “totally inaccurate.”