Camilla’s Country Life (ITV†
Rating: 
Sneaker Head (Dave)
Rating:
Garden gnomes, Jubilee china and a few rescued Jack Russells: If the Queen is the country’s grandmother, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is her favorite aunt.
The gnomes in her Wiltshire acres were seen when cameras first peeked around the flower beds, in Camilla’s Country Life (ITV).
Other botanical ornaments include a painted plaster tiger stalking a stoneware rooster. She didn’t say what her husband, a lifelong environmentalist, thinks of such suburbs.
This one-off documentary provides a unique insight into our future Queen Consort as she immerses herself in her personal passions and engages with some of those closest to her.
Camilla’s delight was unfeigned at a charity event in Manchester, as she poked around and discovered a royal commemorative mug among the books and puzzles. “I have a whole collection, believe it or not,” she announced, waving her trophy, made to celebrate the Queen’s 70th reign.
If it is of any use, Your Royal Highness, I have one from 1986 commemorating the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. I could bundle it up in bubble wrap and put it in the mail. It will look beautiful on your dresser.
Though she has the heart and soul of a tough woman at the Worcester Women’s Institute, Camilla grew up in an upper-class environment, on Hall Place, Hampshire. She returned with younger sibling Annabel to reminisce about childhood quarrels, such as the time she buried her sister’s teddy bear in the rose garden. “It gnaws to this day,” Annabel grumbled.
The house is now owned by retired PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Michael Langdon, who inadvertently showed what royalty is all about.
He welcomed her to the estate, was all madam, and bowed like a Downton butler. But he couldn’t resist an audacity: “Is it true your grandmother lowered the floor so the servants couldn’t see out the window?”
The Duchess of Cornwall is guest editor of Country Life magazine to mark her 75th birthday
Camilla gritted his teeth and dismissed the story as nonsense. This incident may explain why, while guest editor of an edition of Country Life magazine, she chose the abrasive Jeremy Clarkson as one of her “Countryside Champions.”
Jezza pointed out that when audience members harass him, he can swear at them and demand that he be left alone. They expect him to be rude. How Camilla must sometimes desire to do the same.
Also featured in People Just Do Nothing as Kevin ‘DJ Beats’ Bates, Hugo Chegwin plays Russell in Sneakerhead
She did reveal that her favorite relaxation is a dip in the sea. “After the initial horror of getting in, you feel so much better coming out. † † totally refreshed,” she revealed, adding that she takes her cossie everywhere – “not that I can swim in many places.”
Wild swimming, as it’s called, has become quite the TV craze, recommended by everyone from Alice Roberts to Robson Green and Kate Humble doing it naked. Camilla might just be the ideal host for a series on its perks: Splashing Out With The Duchess.
On the other side of the social ladder, rapper Big Zuu made his acting debut in Sneakerhead (Dave), a sitcom about a sportswear store. Hugo Chegwin stars as trainer salesman and drug smoker Russell, who accidentally becomes a store manager, much to the anger of his ambitious colleague Jemma, the brilliant Francesca Mills.
Rapper Big Zuu makes his acting debut in Sneakerhead (Dave), a sitcom about a sportswear store. Pictured LR: Mark Silcox as Edgars, Big Zuu as Mulenga, Lucia Keskin as Amber, Francesca Mills as Jemma, Hugo Chegwin as Russell
Everyone benefits from Russell, from his friend Mulenga (Zuu) to his unfaithful girlfriend Clare (Alexa Davies), who dumps him and then takes him back on the promise of a trip to Selfridges.
Russell is easily satisfied. “Not many people are lucky enough to say they have the shortest commute time in Peterborough,” he notes.
The three-part series continues tonight. It’s worth a look, if you’re not afraid of some dirty jokes. † † and I’m sure the Duchess of Cornwall doesn’t.