King Charles' former press secretary has provided a fascinating insight into the new monarch's "relentless" schedule. Julian Payne said his old boss always skips lunch and often works until midnight.
Rubbishing claims that the sovereign is served a line of eggs to choose from every morning, Mr Payne is reported in the Mirror saying that the King's breakfast usually only consists of fruit and seeds. He said: “The King doesn’t eat lunch; so, an early lesson I learnt when out on the road with him was to have a big breakfast or bring a few snack bars with you to keep you going.
“The working day is pretty relentless. Beginning with the radio news headlines and a breakfast of seasonal fruit salad and seeds with tea.”
A small but hard-working team of mostly long-serving staff runs the household of the new head of state with precision. And the King's office schedule is just as packed, consisting of consecutive 45-minute sessions on his charity's next project, an upcoming tour or discussion about matters of state with his principal private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton.
All his work is put into a fresh six-month diary on a bi-annual basis. This planning was co-ordinated from a combination of invitations from his 400-plus patronages and military links in addition to his nation and state work, such as the state opening of Parliament, Remembrance Sunday and so on.
Mr Payne said the King's distaste for being indoors for too long usually prompts a brief respite from his "relentless schedule" at around 1pm when he likes to go outside for a walk. But he doesn't eat during this period.
Instead, the first real pause in the day comes at 5pm when the King stops for tea and takes the opportunity to recharge his batteries and will often eat sandwiches and a piece of fruit cake with the Queen Consort. Any leftovers once the cake has been passed around will be put in a Tupperware box for the next couple of days.
The King then returns to his desk as he works his way through a mountain of paperwork that, despite the best endeavours of his PAs, never seemed to diminish. Dinner is at 8.30pm sharp and then at 10pm he heads back to his desk, usually until well past midnight.
Mr Payne said the King's habit for late nights is also true of public engagements, where his gregarious approach and willingness to chat to lots of people means these often go on for hours on end. One famous example of this is reported to have come at a James Bond premiere several years ago, where it took longer than expected for him to eventually speak to Daniel Craig as he was busy in conversation with set designers and security guards.
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