Queen Camilla sets record straight on smoking in candid chat after chest infection

Queen Camilla, who pulled out of engagements last week due to a chest infection, returned to work by attending a glittering reception of film and TV stars – and had a revealing chat with Paddington star Emily Mortimer

Queen Camilla is now on the mend after a nasty chest infection forced her to pull out of several engagements.

The 77-year-old missed Remembrance events last weekend due to being unwell but has returned to duties this week – and met the stars of film and TV during a glittering reception at Buckingham Palace alongside King Charles.

During the event, Camilla had the opportunity to have a candid chat with Paddington actress Emily Mortimer with the pair chatting animatedly about Emily’s mother Penelope, who Camilla knows personally. The actress told her: “Penny sends her love.” When the monarch enquired about how she was, the actress laughed and said: “Oh, she’s still smoking as much as ever.”

Camilla laughed and said: “Oh she’s still on the fags?” Emily asked Camilla: “Oh have you quit the fags?” to which the Queen said: “Oh yes, I quit 20 years ago” and the actress said: “Well done.” Camilla has long had a reputation for being a smoker and a lover of drinking gin. However, last month her son Tom Parker Bowles also said this depiction of his mother was not true.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the King said he was “moved to tears” by the Queen’s landmark documentary on domestic abuse. Chatting to two of the makers of the Queen’s programme, Kerene Barefield and Naveed Chowdhary-Flatt from Love Monday Productions, Charles said: “I was moved to tears” when he watched a preview of it in Scotland. He added: ‘I really am very proud.’

Later the King joked with actor Damian Lewis, who is currently starring as Henry VIII in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light, after the actor cheekily told him: “At least you can claim not to be related to him!”

“You are fantastic in it,” said the King, who is understood to have watched the series with his wife. Speaking to legendary director Sir Ridley Scott about his new blockbuster film Gladiator II, Camilla gave her apologies for not attending the premiere in London yesterday evening due to her recovery from a chest infection.

She said: “I am so sorry I’m not coming tonight. I’d be coughing throughout it.” The director clasped his hands and told her not to worry at all. The Queen said she had felt “absolutely rotten” last week but was definitely “on the mend”.

Other talent in the lineup in the Music Room at the palace included British actor Henry Golding – who told the King how nice it was to be “back on British soil” after living in LA for 17 years – Emily in Paris star Lucian Laviscount, Mo Gilligan, Claudia Winkleman, India Amarteifio, who played young Queen Charlotte in the Bridgestone spin-off, and director Gurinder Chadha.

Other royals present included the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. The King is Patron of the Film and TV Charity, succeeding Queen Elizabeth II, who had held the patronage since 1952.

Founded in 1924, to help people working in the screen industries to overcome a spectrum of personal and professional challenges, today it continues to offer counselling and support with mental health, legal, and financial advice. Celebrating those who work within the television and film industry in the UK, Their Majesties met guests including directors, actors, TV presenters, stunt performers and costume designers.

And there was even an opportunity to view a number of costumes and items from films including Titanic (1997), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and the late Dame Maggie Smith’s costume from Evil Under The Sun (1982), as well as hear music from TV shows, film scores, and musicals, performed by The Countess of Wessex String Orchestra.