Queen Camilla Makes Candid Admission About Smoking After Returning to Work Following Chest Infection

Queen Camilla has had a rough November so far after being forced to cancel a week of royal events—including two major Remembrance Day engagements—due to a chest infection. But as The Queen returned to duties on Wednesday, Nov. 13, she shared a tidbit about her rumored smoking habit with one movie star.

Camilla joined King Charles, who serves as patron of the Film and TV Charity, for a star-studded reception at Buckingham Palace, and during the event she had a candid chat with Paddington in Peru actress Emily Mortimer.

The Queen knows Emily's mother, Penelope, and when the actress said (via the Mirror), "Penny sends her love," Camilla asked how Emily's mother was doing. "Oh, she's still smoking as much as ever," the Mary Poppins Returns star replied.

The pair shared a laugh, with The Queen asking, "Oh, she's still on the fags?" (British English to American English translation: cigarettes). However, Mortimer turned the question around and said, "Oh, have you quit the fags?"

Queen Camilla, who has long been rumored to be a smoker, set the record straight by saying, "Oh yes, I quit 20 years ago," to which the star replied, "Well done."

This isn't the first time The Queen's smoking habit (or lack thereof) has come up in recent months. During an interview with the Times in September, Her Majesty's son, Tom Parker Bowles, said, "Oh, you know she has that reputation of drinking gin and smoking? Never drunk a glass of gin in her life. Doesn’t smoke."

However, Tom did reveal that his mother was "probably" the first-ever queen to cook her own meals in another recent interview.

As for the Buckingham Palace reception, The King and Queen also chatted with actor Damian Lewis, who plays a king himself in the Tudor series Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light, which will premiere on PBS in 2025.

While discussing the infamous King Henry VIII, Lewis told Charles, "At least you can claim not to be related to him!"

While Camilla—who said she was "on the mend" after her chest infection—met plenty of stars during the reception, she made the decision to head home instead of attending Wednesday night's red carpet premiere of Gladiator II.

"I am so sorry I'm not coming tonight. I'd be coughing throughout it," she apologized to director Ridley Scott, who took part in the Buckingham Palace reception.

Despite being forced to take it easy due to her illness, it's been a big week for The Queen as her groundbreaking documentary about domestic violence, Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors, premiered on ITV.