Thomas Henry Parker Bowles (; born 18 December 1974) is a British

food writer Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians. Definition Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food ...

and

food critic The terms food critic, food writer, and restaurant critic can all be used to describe a writer who analyzes food or restaurants and then publishes the results of their findings. While these terms are not strictly synonymous they are often used int ...

. Parker Bowles is the author of seven cookbooks and, in 2010, won the Guild of Food Writers 2010 award for his writings on British food. He is known for his appearances as a judge in numerous television food series and for his reviews of restaurant meals around the UK and overseas for '' GQ,'' '' Esquire,'' and ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

.'' Parker Bowles is the son of

Queen Camilla Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the a ...

and

Andrew Parker Bowles Brigadier Andrew Henry Parker Bowles (born 27 December 1939) is a retired British Army officer. He is the former husband of Queen Camilla. Early life and family Andrew Parker Bowles was born on 27 December 1939 as the eldest of four children t ...

. His stepfather and godfather is

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

. He has one younger sister, Laura Lopes.

Early life and education

Tom Parker Bowles was born on 18 December 1974 in London. He grew up at Bolehyde Manor in Allington, Wiltshire, and, later,

Middlewick House Middlewick House is a Grade II listed Georgian-style house just outside the town of Corsham, Wiltshire, England. It is the home of the Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and his wife Nettie, who acquired it from previous owners Andrew and Camilla Par ...

Corsham Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-eastern edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 national route, southwest of Swindon, southeast of Bristol, northeast of Bath and southwest of ...

, Wiltshire. He and his sister Laura were raised as

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

s. Both their father and their paternal grandmother, Dame Ann Parker Bowles, were Catholic. Like his father, he is in distant remainder to the Earldom of Macclesfield. Parker Bowles was educated at

Summer Fields School Summer Fields is a fee-paying boys' independent day and boarding preparatory school in Summertown, Oxford. It was originally called Summerfield and used to have a subsidiary school, Summerfields, St Leonards-on-Sea (known as "Summers mi"). H ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. In the 1980s, he and his sister attended Heywood Preparatory School in Corsham. He later attended

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and Worcester College, Oxford. Parker Bowles states that immediately after leaving school, he fell in love with food writing, and cites his mother's cooking skills and recipes as what inspired him to become a food writer.

Career

From 1997 until 2000, Parker Bowles was a junior

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists who ...

for Dennis Davidson Associates public relations firm, during which time he was caught snorting cocaine at the Cannes film festival. In 2001, he became ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

''s food columnist. From 2002 to date he has been a food writer, critic and broadcaster. He is a restaurant critic of The ''Mail on Sunday'' and food editor of '' Esquire''. He is also a contributing editor to ''

Condé Nast Traveller ''Condé Nast Traveller'' is published by Condé Nast Publications Ltd, from Vogue House in Hanover Square, Mayfair, London. It is a luxury travel magazine aimed at the upmarket, independent traveller. It can be differentiated from the America ...

'' (UK and US), and ''Departures'' (US), as well as a regular contributor to ''Country Life'', ''Harpers Bazaar'' and ''Town and Country''. He was a contributor to Gordon Ramsay's ''The F Word''. From 2007 to 2010 he co-presented ''Market Kitchen'' on Good Food Channel, alongside Matthew Fort and Matt Tebbutt, and presented

LBC Radio LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

's ''Food and Drink Programme'' for a year. He was a judge on the

ITV Food ITV Food is the name given to the category of cookery shows broadcast on the ITV (TV network), ITV Network. Although the ''ITV Food'' Itv.com, website has been dropped there are still several cookery programmes and items on other daytime shows. ...

series '' Food Glorious Food'' and Channel 9 Australian cooking series '' The Hot Plate.'' In 2017, he was judge, alongside Matt Moran and Anna Polyviou on Series 1 of ''Family Food Fight'' (Channel 9 Australia) and filmed series two of ''Family Food Fight'', which was broadcast in late 2018. He is also one of the regular critics on ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...

'' (BBC 1). In 2014, Parker Bowles was named as one of the Top 10 most followed UK restaurant critics on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Cookbooks

Parker Bowles's first book, published in 2004, was ''E Is For Eating – An Alphabet of Greed''. His next, ''The Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes'', was published by Ebury in 2007. AbeBooks named the book as one of The 50 Best Food Memoirs. His third, ''Full English: A Journey Through the British and Their Food'' was published in 2009 and won the Guild of Food Writers 2010 award for best work on British food. His next book, ''Let's Eat: Recipes From My Kitchen Notebook'', is a compendium of his favourite recipes from his childhood, collected from around the world, and written with the amateur cook in mind. The book was published by St. Martin's Press and was released in 2012. In October 2014, he launched his fifth book titled ''Let's Eat Meat: Recipes for Prime Cuts, Cheap Bits and Glorious Scraps of Meat,'' which was published by

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

. His seventh book, ''Fortnum and Mason – Christmas and Other Winter Feasts'' (4th Estate) was released in October 2018.

Business ventures

In November 2011, Parker Bowles, along with food writer Matthew Fort and farmer Rupert Ponsonby, launched a pork scratchings snack named Mr. Trotter's Great British Pork Crackling. Following good reviews and successful sales of the snack, they launched a beer brand in 2013 named Mr Trotter's Chestnut Ale, which was produced in partnership with The Lancaster Brewing Company and is considered to be the first chestnut beer made in the UK. Mr. Trotter's has since begun expanding, creating different types of products.

Personal life

On 10 September 2005, after five years of dating, Parker Bowles married Sara Buys, an associate editor of '' Harpers & Queen'' magazine and senior editor of British '' Town & Country'' magazine. The wedding took place at St. Nicholas' Anglican Church in

Rotherfield Greys Rotherfield Greys is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. It is west of Henley-on-Thames and just over east of Rotherfield Peppard (locally known as Peppard). It is linked by a near-straight minor road to H ...

, Oxfordshire. His cousin

Ben Elliot Benjamin William Elliot (born 11 August 1975) is a British businessman and fund-raiser for the Conservative Party who served as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party from July 2019 alongside James Cleverly (2019–2020), Amanda Milling (2020� ...

was his best man. The couple had daughter Lola in 2007 and son Frederick in 2010. Parker Bowles and Buys separated in 2018. In 2019, Parker Bowles started dating former journalist Alice Procope. On 17 March 2021, Procope died in her home, seven months after being diagnosed with cancer.

Publications

*''E is for Eating: An Alphabet of Greed.'' (2004). Long Barn Books. *''The Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes '' (2007). Ebury. *''Full English: A Journey Through the British and Their Food.'' (2009). Ebury. *''Let's Eat: Recipes from My Kitchen Notebook.'' (2012). St. Martin's Press. *''Let's Eat Meat: Recipes for Prime Cuts, Cheap Bits and Glorious Scraps of Meat''. (2014). Pavilion. *''The Fortnum & Mason Cookbook.'' (2016). Harper Collins. *''Fortnum and Mason: Christmas and Other Winter Feasts.'' (2018). Fourth Estate Ltd

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker Bowles, Tom 1974 births Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford British broadcasters British cookbook writers British food writers British magazine editors British radio presenters British restaurant critics British people of Canadian descent British people of Dutch descent British people of French descent British people of French-Canadian descent British people of Scottish descent Businesspeople from London Cubitt family De Trafford family Tom English Roman Catholics Family of Charles III Fortnum & Mason Tom Living people Tom People educated at Eton College People educated at Summer Fields School People from Westminster People from Wiltshire Tom Writers from London