Exclusive: The Italian chef – at the centre of a complaints storm – charmed Camilla by saying that he’d worked with her son, Tom Parker-Bowles, while Charles recalled him ‘doing various things with fish’

Gino D’Acampo turned on the charm when he met Camilla in January 2018 (Image: Screengrab from Getty video)

The Scottish Daily Express has uncovered video footage showing troubled TV chef Gino D’Acampo meeting King Charles and Queen Camilla during a tour of the ITV studios.

The royal pair, who were then still Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, visited the studios on London’s South Bank in January 2018 to mark the 90th anniversary of the Royal Television Society.

They shook hands with a host of well-known faces from Good Morning Britain and This Morning, including Susanna Reid, Lorraine Kelly and Piers Morgan – who would later quit GMB due to his outrage Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

They even appeared on This Morning, sitting on the famous sofa with Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield, who was later axed by ITV and dropped as an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust over his relationship with a much younger male co-worker.

The video was filmed by news agency Getty and published on its Canadian website. It shows Charles and Camilla working their way along a parade of presenters until they arrive at D’Acampo, who is standing next to Scottish Loose Women star Andrea McLean.

The audio is not very clear as the Italian chef chats with the Prince of Wales, although Charles appears to recall a previous encounter when “you were there, doing various things with fish”. D’Acampo asks if he has visited Naples and the Amalfi Coast, adding “that is a place that you must go and visit, it’s amazing”.

Charles recalled Gino D’Acampo ‘doing various things with fish’ (Image: Screengrab from Getty video)
He then strikes up a much longer conversation with Camilla, who asks if he knows her son, fellow TV chef and food writer Tom Parker-Bowles. “Oh yes,” he replies. “We worked together as well, we used to do a show about ten years ago.”

The Duchess immediately recalls the show, Market Kitchen, and D’Acampo says: “Yes, Market Kitchen, it was great, they should bring it back.” And Camilla agrees: “They should bring it back.”

Market Kitchen was shown on the now defunct subscription channel Good Food, although D’Acampo also worked with Parker Bowles on other shows including Cooking the Books.

Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby share a joke on the sofa with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (as they were at the time) (Image: WPA Pool/Getty Images)
By the time of the royal visit in 2018, it is alleged that a number of complaints of inappropriate behaviour had already been made about the Italian by some of his female co-workers. That same year, a woman complained to ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall about sexual comments he allegedly made about Holly Willoughby.

D’Acampo, 48, has denied all allegations against him, saying: “Not only have these allegations never been raised with me before, I have been repeatedly supported by executives at the highest level and was commissioned on prime-time programmes during the period in which it is now suggested I was acting inappropriately.

“I am a father, husband and have worked with well over 1,500 people on around 80 productions in my career, which I have been so proud of. I take such matters extremely seriously and the suggestion that I have acted in an improper way against is deeply upsetting.”