King Charles is one of the most well-known people in the world, however, not everyone knows much about what the monarch is really like behind closed doors. Over the years, a number of insiders have shared an insight into what the King is like away from the camera.
According to sources, the King can be quite fussy and has a taste for the finer things in life, much like his grandmother, The Queen Mother, was. The late Diana, Princess of Wales’s friend Tina Brown wrote about this in her book The Palace Papers, which was published before Charles became King.
She said: “The Prince of Wales (now King Charles), unfortunately, chose to emulate his big-spending grandmother, who insisted on living in Edwardian grandeur, maintaining five fully staffed homes. Charles, senior courtiers felt, wanted to “out-granny Granny” in old world elegance.”
As reported by The Daily Mail, it is believed Charles has a lot of similar traits to his late grandmother, especially when it comes to spending.
The monarch, according to reports, has 60 suits which each cost more than £5,000. It is believed that all his shirts are hand-made and cost £1,000 each.
It is also believed the King has 50 pairs of boots and shoes each costing over £2,000 to make by Lobb of St James’s, and has a serving soldier based at Birdcage Walk polish these every day.
Royal author Tina Brown also said that Charles employed a high number of staff at his homes and sometimes requested bizarre tasks, for example when Camilla still smoked, footmen were apparently instructed to place silver cigarette boxes containing her favourite brand in every room.
It was claimed that the footman also had to make sure that matchbox holders, which were in solid silver containers, were placed upright near at hand with one match half withdrawn.
These bizarre requests were similar to those made by The Queen Mother, who also had a high number of household staff. It is believed she even had one watchman who sat outside her bedroom door every night with a lamp.
Since becoming King, Charles is believed to have cut down costs, as shown by his slimmed down monarchy.
The monarch is also believed to have made certain events such as his Coronation in 2023 smaller to reduce any burden on the taxpayer.
