Royal Gardener Reveals Romantic Date Nights Are “So Difficult” For King Charles and Queen Camilla

King Charles and Queen Camilla will celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary later this month, but planning a royal date night can be a challenge. They can’t just book a table at the local hotspot or head down to the local pub for a pint—although Prince William and Princess Kate have been known to sneak out for a dinner for two. Instead, King Charles and Queen Camilla will celebrate privately at home. Former royal gardener Jack Stooks reveals that “their anniversaries tend to be up in Birkhall near the Balmoral Estate” and says that “it’s nothing too extravagant.”

The quiet celebrations would be “just them and if they have a few guests or family members,” they would all be included in “a quiet meal” at home. “Birkhall is lovely,” Stooks says of the 18th century Scottish estate that King Charles inherited from his grandmother, the Queen Mother, in 2002. Since then, King Charles and Queen Camilla have spent many romantic getaways at the modest royal estate, including their 2005 honeymoon and every summer since. “It’s not a huge house and there’s a nice drawing room. There’s a small dining room they might even just have like a crab souffle or something completely simple.

A simple dinner at home—albeit crab souffle made by a royal chef—may seem underwhelming for a romantic wedding anniversary, but the choices for the King and Queen are limited. “It's not that easy that they can go and have a nice meal in a restaurant and be left alone,” Stooks explains, speaking to Smooth Spins. “It’s so difficult.” The King and Queen rarely, if ever, dine out together in a private capacity, and King Charles’s dietary habits may also be to blame. “The King is also quite specific about his eating pattern, and they don't eat huge amounts as well.”

“They're not like these sort of people that will go and have a full on meal and a starter and a main course and the pudding,” the former royal gardener shares. While Queen Camilla dines out with friends and family, frequently seen at London icons like The Wollesley and The Goring, when it comes to date nights, they prefer to be at home. “I think they would just rather have their chef prepare a really nice meal at home that they're used to and that they enjoy.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla might not seem lovey-dovey in public, but they do have a deeply romantic relationship. “They're very comfortable in each other's company, and they sort of seem to fit so perfectly together,” says Stooks. “He obviously dotes on her, and she dotes on him.”