The King has responded to rumours about his high-maintenance travel habits. Photo / Getty Images
The King has responded to rumours about his high-maintenance travel habits. Photo / Getty Images
This was one of the most-read stories of 2023 on nzherald.co.nz.
It seems not every home is fit for a king.
A past rumour about King Charles’ travel habits has resurfaced claiming the recently crowned monarch brings some bizarre items with him while on his travels.
According to journalist Tom Bower, King Charles does not travel light and while going on excursions both royal and personal, he is believed to bring his own toilet seat.
The Daily Mail has reported the journalist wrote in his biography Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles, that the King can be demanding when travelling and reportedly once sent a full truck of furniture to replace the furnishings in a friend’s guest room during his visit.
He added that as well as an orthopaedic bed, bottled water and Kleenex Premium Comfort toilet paper, Bower claimed the 74-year-old also brings his very own toilet seat to make himself feel more at home.
King Charles quashed any rumours he is a high-maintenance traveller. Photo / AP
Other home comforts the King requires when travelling, according to Bower, include a butler, two valets, a chef, a private secretary, a typist and bodyguards who have to assist the King with duties.
Charles reportedly also differs from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who would eat and drink the same meals as the company she was staying with, whereas claims insist Charles brings his own meals while travelling.
While the royal family rarely comment on the many rumours that circulate surrounding their habits, the toilet seat claim was one Charles couldn’t help but clear up. While sitting down with the Australian radio station Hit105 in 2018, he was asked about his unlikely travel companion and gave a very blunt reply.
“My own what? Oh don’t believe all that c**p,” he told the radio hosts.
Still unconvinced, the hosts further pried for information and asked Queen Camilla to comment on the matter. They asked her, “So he doesn’t carry his own toilet seat when he travels?”
To which she replied: “Don’t you believe that!”
The couple were in Australia for the opening of the Commonwealth Games and upon hearing the bizarre rumour, took the opportunity to show their sense of humour.
Taking to Twitter, the royals’ then director of communications, Julian Payne, shared an image of Charles and Camilla greeting fans in Brisbane and wrote: “The prince and the duchess’ tour of Australia and Vanuatu begins: 30 engagements, 7 days, 1 Commonwealth Games, 0 personal loo seats”.
