Camilla’s in the house... and she’s up for a party!
With Charles isolated, she chats to family on video app
FOR the Duchess of Cornwall, her jam-packed schedule of royal engagements must feel like a distant memory – especially after her husband was diagnosed with coronavirus.
But Camilla has found a way of whiling away the lonely hours of self-isolation in Scotland … with a popular social networking app called Houseparty.
The Daily Mail can reveal that Camilla, 72, is an avid user of the video chat program that lets up to eight users enjoy a simultaneous catch-up.
While it was fairly popular with millennials before the Covid-19 pandemic, last week alone Houseparty was downmore than two million times worldwide as people are forced inside. Everyone from celebrities to middleclass mums – and now, it seems, royalty – have started enjoying virtual hangouts, prosecco nights and even dinner parties with friends, which you can ‘host’ without having to worry about the dishes afterwards.
It is understood Camilla, who this week tested negative for the virus, is desperately missing her children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, who themselves have five children between them. Camilla – or Gaga, as they call her – is very much a hands-on grandma.
So she was persuaded to download the Houseparty app on her phone – and hasn’t looked back.
‘It’s amazing, I just press a button and all my family pop up!’ she told a friend. She also regularly ‘hangs out’ with her interior designer sister, Annabel Elliot, 71.
Camilla is a huge supporter of charities dealing with loneliness and isolation such as Silverline, a confidential help service for older people, and the Royal Voluntary Service – and thinks Houseparty and other apps are fantastic tools for keeping in touch.
A royal source said: ‘The duchess has found this a brilliant way of staying in touch with her own family whom she is missing terribly.
‘From her charity work she knows how important it is for everyone to do this while we all deal with this pandemic. Of course she is anxious about her own health and that of her husband, but she’s determined to keep calm and carry on.’
Fashionista Livia Firth, the wife of Oscar-winning actor Colin, actresses Michelle Monaghan and Eva Longoloaded ria, and Justin Bieber’s wife Hailey are known to use the app.
Recognisable by its waving hand icon – as we’ve shown above with our mocked-up version of what Camilla’s Houseparty app could look like – users are notified when one of their pals is ‘in the house’. Friends can also challenge each other to online games and quizzes.
Meanwhile, Prince Charles was yesterday working at his desk ‘as usual’ despite his diagnosis.
The heir to the throne is said to be suffering from only ‘mild’ symptoms and has not adjusted his normal schedule in any way. He and his wife are living separately at Birkhall on Royal Deeside.
‘He is absolutely fine,’ a source told the Mail. ‘There have been no significant changes in his condition. And he is working hard.’
A Clarence House spokesman has insisted the couple met ‘all the criteria required’ for testing.
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‘I press a button and all my family pop up’
‘The prince is absolutely fine’