King Charles cancer treatment update issued by Queen’s son as mealtime ban revealed…

Food critic and author Tom Parker Bowles has given the latest update from the King’s doctor as he talked about his stepfather’s strong dislike of food waste

Charles is the King of leftovers, according to his stepson.

Queen Camilla’s son Tom Parker Bowles says the monarch is a recycling champion who “appalls waste”. The food critic and author said his stepfather bans anything to be thrown away after mealtimes, insisting leftovers can be used for other dishes – with all packaging recycled.

Tom, 49, said: “There is no waste, everything is recycled, everything is used from the table. “If anything is leftover from the dinner, that will be made into something else or appear the next day. Nothing’s allowed to be thrown out.”

The King has long been a champion of sustainability – The Coronation Food Project coordinated by his charitable fund launched last year, aiming to reduce food waste and support people living in “food insecurity”.

He added: “It’s not the King just paying lip service, he practices what he preaches.” As the King’s stepson and godson, he says food sustainability is a subject he “can relate to” the monarch on. He really is a food hero. To talk to him about the strange varieties of plums or pears or anything else is endlessly fascinating.”

Buckingham Palace announced in February that Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer, but Parker Bowles confirmed his “doctor says the treatment is going well” and shared how his mother Camilla was coping, saying: “She’s tough, my mother”.

His latest cookbook, Cooking and the Crown, details the history of food within the royal family – from the reign of Queen Victoria beginning in 1837 and Edward VII at the turn of the century, to Charles and Camilla. “They can certainly eat that family!” he said – who regularly appears as a critic on BBC One’s MasterChef.