The Coronation of King Charles III is set to take place this Saturday in a huge royal event that will be watched by millions all over the world.
Alongside his wife Camilla, Queen Consort, the monarch will be officially crowned at Westminster Abbey as the new King and Queen following the death of Queen Elizabeth in September last year.
People are now gearing up for a weekend of celebrations with street parties and screenings scheduled across the UK. Many are choosing to show their appreciation by cooking and eating royal-themed food and drinks, such as the Coronation Quiche, the official dish of the event.
And when it comes to King Charles himself, his eating habits have sparked interest as people have been keen to know what the royal figure likes to eat - or opts not to, like dairy once a week.
What King Charles eats in a day
Being such a prominent royal figure, you might expect the King to have a hugely expensive taste in food, with the top chefs working tirelessly to cater to his every need.
But this may not be the case, as the King reportedly enjoys simple meals - only two of them a day, as he apparently 'never eats lunch'.
Instead, he reportedly starts his day off with something light, such as seasonal fruit salads and seeds with tea, according to one of his former press officers Julian Payne.
As the day goes on and King Charles goes about his royal duties, it's said he likes to take a break at around 5pm and enjoy some tea, sandwiches and cake - with a classic fruit cake reportedly being his favourite.
And when it comes to dinner time, the monarch will "often opt for plant-based meals."
He told the BBC in 2021: "For years I haven’t eaten meat and fish on two days a week and I don’t eat dairy products on one day a week."
King Charles' 'particular' food habits
Other foods that King Charles tends to leave off his plate aren't quite as straightforward.
According to the Independent, he can only enjoy a certain popular snack when it's served up to him in a very specific way.
A royal source explained earlier this year: "Charles enjoys cheese and biscuits at the end of many of his meals. Since he’s particular about everything, he insists that they be a certain temperature. The staff keeps a warming pan just to make sure they are hot enough for his liking."
As well as this, Charles reportedly doesn't like coffee or garlic - and when he drinks tea, which he prefers to be made from loose leaves in a teapot, he adds "heaped teaspoonfuls" of organic honey for extra sweetness, reported Hello Magazine.
And unlike his mother Queen Elizabeth, he's not fond of chocolate either, contrasting the late monarch's alleged penchant for the sweet stuff.
King Charles' debated egg-eating habits
One factor of the King's diet which is widely up for debate is his egg-eating habits, specifically boiled ones.
There are rumours that the monarch eats a "coddled" egg with every meal, which is an egg that has been boiled for around 2-3 minutes so that it remains very soft.
And a book written by Jeremy Paxman back in 2006 suggested that his staff would cook a series of eggs for the royal each day and line them up in front of him, so that he could choose for himself which one was satisfactory.
However, this is contrary to what former press officer Julian Payne has said, as he explained: "I never saw a single boiled egg at breakfast in all the years I worked there."
King Charles' drink of choice
Finally, when it comes to alcoholic beverages, the monarch's drink of choice is reportedly a martini - but with a little twist in how it's made.
While a classic dry martini is made with a six-to-one ratio of gin to vermouth (so 3 ounces of the former to ½ ounce of the latter), the king's preferred martini is known as extra wet or 50/50, as it contains equal amounts of both spirits.
And Tina Brown's book The Palace Papers even describes how he'd have one of his security guards serve him his drink out of his very own glass.
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