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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Rebecca Russell

Prince Charles' weird toilet demand and strict toothpaste rule revealed in new book

Prince Charles' stringent travel demands have been laid bare in a new tell-all book, which claims the future king insists on taking his own toilet seat and loo roll when he travels.

Journalist Tina Brown, who was good friends with Princess Diana, spoke to more than 120 insiders and sources for her new book The Palace Papers.

She details how the Prince of Wales allegedly sends a van of his possessions to his friends’ country houses the day before he's due to stay to unload his “bed, furniture and even pictures”.

This includes his orthopaedic bed, lavatory seat and Kleenex Velvet lavatory paper.

Brown also claims Charles brings his own landscapes of the Scottish Highlands to decorate his room.

Prince Charles' demands include having his own bed and toilet seat (Getty Images)

Prince Charles' exacting standards are not new as several stories have surfaced in the past about his taste for the finer things in life.

In the documentary Serving the Royals: Inside the Firm, Diana's former butler Paul Burrell revealed: “His pyjamas are pressed every morning, his shoelaces are pressed flat with an iron, the bath plug has to be in a certain position, and the water temperature has to be just tepid. He has his valets squeeze one inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush every morning.”

These specific requests also extend to what Prince Charles eats. Former royal chef Darren McGrady, who worked for the family for more than 15 years, explained that he likes to ensure the royal pantry is well stocked with "his own produce".

In an interview, McGrady said: "The instruction was to put two plums and a little juice into the bowl and send it into him for breakfast. I'd send in two plums and he would take one so it would come back out after breakfast and I'd put the other plum back into the jar and save it.

"One morning I thought, 'ok, he only eats one for breakfast,' so I only put one plum into the bowl and sent it out into the dining room. The attending [waiter] came through and said, 'can His Royal Highness have two please?' So I had to keep sending two in every morning."

Tina Brown's new book also reveals how different Prince Charles is to his mother (Getty Images)

Elsewhere in her new book, Brown speaks in detail about the differences between Charles and his mother, the Queen.

She reveals how a source told her that Prince Charles is “desperate for his mother’s approval” but that he will never get it because of his “needy, vulnerable” character.

The Prince of Wales is “the wrong sort of person for her”, the source said. “Too needy, too vulnerable, too emotional, too complicated, too self-centered.”

They continued: “Arts, charitable causes that aren’t wrapped in a rigid sense of duty - it’s all anathema to her.”

And, according to The Palace Papers, the late Duke of Edinburgh didn’t think his son was “King material”.

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