Prince Picky: Book claims Charles has an outrageously pampered lifestyle

Think you’re a little bit picky about your travel comforts? Relax. If this new book is even slightly accurate, you’ve got nothing on Prince Charles!

Tom Bower is due to publish a book called Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles, and according to an excerpt published by the Daily Mail, the next in line to the throne is very difficult to please when it comes to a home away from home.

The promotional blurb for the book from publisher Harper Collins sure sounds juicy, if royal intrigue is your thing.

“In unearthing many secrets surrounding that and many other dramas, Bower’s book, relying on the testimony from over 120 people employed or welcomed into the inner sanctum of Clarence House, reveals a royal household rife with intrigue and misconduct,” the publisher says. “The result is a book which uniquely will probe into the character and court of the Charles that no one, until now, has seen.”

Bower claims that Charles and Camilla send an entire bedroom setting – including paintings, Charles’ own toilet seat, an orthopaedic bed and, of course, bed linens and organic foods – along with them when they go to stay with friends. But that may be better than when he cancelled on another friend who was expecting him to stay for the weekend, because he felt “unable to abandon the beauty of his sunlit garden at Highgrove,” Bower writes. 

“For about six months of every year, the heir to the throne enjoyed a unique lifestyle in beautiful places, either in seclusion or with friends,” the book claims.

“Although his travelling staff (a butler, two valets, chef, private secretary, typist and bodyguards) could anticipate most of his movements between his six homes, the only definite confirmation of his final destination, especially to his hosts, would be the arrival of a truck carrying suitcases, furniture and food.”

The Rebel Prince notes that Prince Charles’ behaviour is in sharp contrast with that of his mother, who largely eats whatever is offered by her hosts, and possibly due to the resentment he feels over the restrictions of royal life. “Duty is what I live — an intolerable burden,” he reportedly said to one aide, while another was told that “nobody knows what utter hell it is to be Prince of Wales”.

All of that said, apparently the Duchess of Cornwall is skilled at cutting her husband down to size if his demands become a little too lofty. When the prince claimed to friends that he “had been on the tube [the London Underground transport system], you know”, she was said to be quick to reply, “Yes, but only to open a line”.

And aides told Bower that Prince Charles was careful never to look petulant or demanding in front of members of the public, because of was aware of the sharp dip the royals’ popularity took after the death of Princess Diana and knew that his own public profile wasn’t entirely positive.

If there’s truth in the book, it’s hard to tell whether the Queen’s firstborn is happy that his royal duties have been increased, as the 91-year-old monarch steps away from some of her longtime responsibilities.

The Rebel Prince will be available from March 23 in Australia.

What do you think? Would it be difficult to be the Prince of Wales? Or are the luxurious lifestyle and relatively easy duties be sufficient recompense for having some of your behaviours restricted?