Queen Camilla is set to appear in this week’s Antiques Roadshow episode and you might remember it being filmed quite a while ago.
The Royal Family might not be actors but that doesn’t mean they haven’t made some iconic appearances in different shows over the years. In 2022 none other than King Charles starred in a special episode of The Repair Shop to mark the BBC’s centenary and that year he and Queen Camilla also appeared in EastEnders for a special street party to mark the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.
This isn’t Queen Camilla’s only foray into the world of television as she’s also in an episode of the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. Airing at 8pm on 10th March this episode is one antiques and royal fans alike won’t want to miss - but has it been on before? As you enjoy this royal episode we reveal when it was actually filmed, if it’s a repeat and whether Queen Camilla watches Antiques Roadshow.
When was Queen Camilla’s Antiques Roadshow episode filmed?
The episode of Antiques Roadshow that Queen Camilla appeared in was filmed in 2022. As the weather in the episode might suggest, it was filmed in late summer and so Her Majesty was still Duchess of Cornwall at the time. This Antiques Roadshow episode was filmed in Cornwall at the Eden Project which Her Majesty has a strong connection with and she and presenter Fiona Bruce also discussed her support for The Big Lunch charity project. The Big Lunch was started by the Eden Project in 2009 and encourages people to come together and share a meal with members of their local community once a year.
Is the Queen Camilla episode of Antiques Roadshow a repeat?
If this week’s Antiques Roadshow all seems a little familiar it’s because this special episode featuring Queen Camilla is a repeat. It aired for the first time on 5th March 2023, just a few months before she was officially crowned Queen Consort at Westminster Abbey. Now, just over a year later fans are getting another chance to watch Queen Camilla on the Antiques Roadshow. After the episode re-airs at 8pm on BBC One on Sunday 10th March, it will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Does Queen Camilla watch Antiques Roadshow?
Over the years we’ve had a few tantalising insights into what the royals like to watch and Queen Camilla has revealed does tune in to this long-running BBC show at Clarence House. In a moment that was also captured brilliantly in a BBC clip, Antiques Roadshow host Fiona Bruce asked Her Majesty if she watches the show and if she’s a fan. Queen Camilla’s response not only showed she’s a viewer, but that she’s a very dedicated one at that.
She said, “I’ve watched forever and ever and ever”, before going on to describe watching Antiques Roadshow as her “Sunday evening treat”. Queen Camilla also threw herself into the show’s format and brought along a few special items for the experts to cast their eye over - just like all the other people we’ve seen do so over the years.
Elsewhere in the episode, the Queen joined Fiona for a “guess the mystery item” challenge set by Geoffrey Munn, the jewellery specialist. Featuring a piece of rock crystal, two jewelled arrows and a silver plaque decorated with a pair of eyes, they had to try and identify each item’s purpose.
What did Queen Camilla bring to the Antiques Roadshow?
One of the objects brought by Queen Camilla was personal - a copy of Elegy in A Country Churchyard by poet Thomas Gray - and the other was a snuff box from the Royal Collection Trust. The Royal Collection which holds over a million objects and has been assembled by monarchs for centuries. The magnificent objects aren’t owned personally by King Charles or any of his predecessors, but are held in trust by them for the nation and their successors on the throne.
With so much to choose from to bring to the Antiques Roadshow, Queen Camilla ended up making a decision that was entirely fitting given where the programme was being filmed and her own title at the time, Duchess of Cornwall. She brought a rare silver snuff box to show the Antiques Roadshow’s silver specialist Duncan Campbell.
"I wanted to bring along something that was associated with Cornwall," Queen Camilla shared. "And, of course, it doesn't exist now, but in those days there was a silver mine here. The Wheal duchy, just 40 minutes away. And this was the result of Wheal Duchy."
Elaborating a little more on why she felt it simply had to be this silver snuff box that she brought to the Antiques Roadshow, Queen Camilla continued, “And, also, it was given to a forbearer of my husband.”
Queen Camilla’s copy of Elegy in A Country Churchyard by poet Thomas Gray was something that was looked over by expert Justin Croft. The binding was done in 1899 by the Guild of Women Binders and in this episode of Antiques Roadshow Her Majesty expressed her interest and admiration for it. She also talked about her love for the poem itself - something that won’t come as a surprise to anyone given Queen Camilla’s well-known love of literature and reading.
