Adding fuel to rumours that the couple are spending more time apart as the shine has come off their relationship, Camilla will spend only the Christmas Day with Prince Charles and the rest of the holiday with her own family away from the royals, a media report said.
The Duchess of Cornwall will spend Christmas Day with Charles at Sandringham in Norfolk before joining her own family at her Wiltshire home, Ray Mill House, on Boxing Day, the Daily Mail reported.
She has told friends she cannot wait to put her feet up “with a glass of bubbly” after a challenging year during which she broke her leg and was attacked by rioting students, the report said.
According to her friends, Camilla yearns for a quiet life in the country and to spend time with her grandchildren. One said Camilla was not often to be found at Highgrove, marital home in Gloucestershire, and prefers Ray Mill House that she kept after her marriage in 2005 as a vital “bolthole” to which she could flee at moments when life with Prince Charles became too much, the report said.
“Sometimes living in the Royal goldfish bowl gets stressful and she loves to unwind at home with her family,” an unnamed friend was quoted by the British newspaper as saying.
Camilla will be joined by her son, food writer Tom, 36, his fashion journalist wife Sara, 37, and their children and her 32-year-old daughter, Laura, her accountant husband Harry Lopes.