Traveling in style has always been a royal thing. From specially equipped cars to yachts and private planes, when royal family members are out performing royal duties, you can be sure that you’ll see some extraordinary means of transport. That also includes the list of things they will bring with them, as every monarch, including King Charles, has different requirements.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are set to go on their first official tour as king and queen across the Commonwealth and other nations worldwide next year. And when doing so, the monarch appears to have a set of particular and luxurious demands.
According to Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, Charles has quite the service at home. In fact, quite an absurd claim was made about the king’s toilet requirements while traveling… Something the now-king and the queen were reportedly furious about.
The royal family has had quite a stressful couple of months. King Charles’ coronation meant plenty of preparations, meetings, and energy, and just weeks ago, the monarch had his second “coronation” in Scotland.
Those not in favor of the monarchy have argued that the coronation should’ve been paid in full by the royal family and not the taxpayers. Just days ago, the royals – specifically King Charles – once again were in the spotlight over their finances.
King Charles to get pay rise
According to the new government plan, the king will receive a huge pay rise from the UK taxpayers. From 2025, it will boost public funding by 45%, meaning that the royal family’s grant is due to increase from £86m to £125m.
Not unlike many countries worldwide, the UK is in a cost of living crisis, according to a review of the royal funding published by the Treasury on Thursday, as reported by The Guardian.
The monarchy’s annual budget, known as the sovereign grant, is always matched against the profits from the crown estate. However, it appears that some things were not getting the attention they might’ve deserved.
“The review of the royal funding settlement was heavily spun by the Treasury to give the impression that the king would be taking a pay cut so that crown estate funds could instead be spent on public services,” the Guardian wrote.
“In fact, the report reveals the monarchy is due to receive a huge pay increase, although the rise will not kick in for another two years.”
The sovereign grant will remain at £86.3m next year. In 2025, King Charles’ public funding will increase by an estimated £38.5 million, which brings the monarchy’s paycheck to £124.8 million. The year after, in 2026, it will be £126 million.
In the long run, King Charles and the rest of his family members will get more taxpayer funding.
“Guilty of appalling dishonesty”
However, it has been presented as a pay cut, as plenty of the money will go to public services.
The government said the change meant they had “reduced the proportion of Crown Estate profits used to calculate the Sovereign Grant.” But not everyone is having it…
Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, now accuses the UK government of “appalling dishonesty..”
“The palace and government are guilty of appalling dishonesty, trying to spin an expected huge funding increase as a cut,” Smith told Yahoo. “How can we add tens of millions of pounds to Charles’ budget when we’re told there must be a cap on child support when schools are struggling to make ends meet?
“When nurses are fighting for a decent pay rise, Charles digs his hands deeper into our pockets,” he added. “He should hang his head in shame at this grab for money and the dishonesty of suggesting it’s a cut.”
Charles and Camilla’s royal household has already begun scheduling many future events, including visits all over the UK. In the fall, the king and queen are set to revisit France, a trip initially planned for March but canceled due to the many protests in the country.
Next year will mean a demanding schedule for Charles, Camilla, William, and Kate Middleton. The king and queen have reportedly planned to go on the largest-ever official royal tour across Britain, the Commonwealth, and other nations worldwide, “extending a hand of friendship and support” from the Firm.
Wants to keep his mother’s “mantra” alive
They are said to prioritize visits to Australia, New Zealand, and several Commonwealth realms in the Caribbean. Moreover, a long journey to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa – about 10,000 miles away – is expected to take place in 2024.
In October, a royal source told the Mirror: “The King and his family are keen to hit the ground running in these crucial first few months and years of his reign.”
“He certainly wants to carry on the long-held mantra from his late mother of being seen to be believed and is very keen to get out and meet as many people as possible.”
Meanwhile, King Charles is said to have discussed visiting Canada “as soon as possible.” That would bring him relatively close to Harry, Meghan, Archie, and Lilibet, which could open the door for a first-ever visit to their Montecito, California home.
The royals travel in style when out on royal engagements, no matter if it’s close to their homes or abroad. It is no secret that King Charles live a life of luxury. He has an estimated net worth of around £478 million and has many estates and cars to his name.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are never traveling alone, as they have plenty of help from their staff. According to the Mirror, he has 28 members of personal household staff, which includes four chefs, five house managers, three valets and dressers, and two butlers.
And it turns out that he has plenty of specific rules for everyone to follow, as King Charles allegedly has many luxurious demands, which ex-staff members revealed.
Author claims King Charles brings his own toilet seat when traveling
At his Clarence House residence, the former Prince of Wales was named “Pampered Prince” among his staff. In the documentary Serving the Royals: Inside the Firm, Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell claimed that Charles had “everything done for him…”
“His pajamas 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,” Burrell said, adding that the now-king even “has his valets squeeze one inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush every morning.”
Paul Burrell began working for Charles and Diana at Highgrove House in 1987 and stayed with the princess until her passing in 1997. He once claimed Diana told him he was the “only man” she trusted. In Serving the Royals: Inside the Firm, he added that King Charles is precise about his bathing temperatures and requests that the bathtub is “only half full.”
When it comes to traveling abroad, another rather outrageous claim was made. Author and royal expert Tina Brown spoke to more than 120 insiders and sources in her book The Palace Papers. They detailed how King Charles allegedly sends a large van of his possessions to friends’ country houses the day before his arrival, where they unload his “bed, furniture and even pictures.”
It included his orthopedic bed, Kleenex Velvet lavatory paper – and even a toilet seat.
The same claim was also brought up in Tom Bower’s 2018 book Prince Charles, Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion, and Defiance of Prince Charles. He stated that King Charles and Camilla’s bedrooms had been brought with them when visiting a friend in the north, complete with his bed, linens, toilet seat, liquor, bottled water, and art.
King Charles and Queen Camilla were furious about the claim
We will probably never find out what King Charles brings with him when visiting friends or going abroad. However, the claim about him bringing his toilet seat made him and Camilla angry, and they decided to address it.
In an interview with an Australian radio station in 2018, Charles spoke about the claims made in Bower’s book.
“My own what? Oh, don’t believe all that c***,” Charles said.
Camilla, angry about the question and claim, added, “So he doesn’t carry his own toilet seat when he travels?”
“Don’t you believe that!” Charles replied.
The Royal Family has seen significant changes in the last few years. The Queen’s passing, of course, sparked a huge transition, but the additional fact that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the royal household meant there have been fewer senior royals to attend duties and engagements.
A report has confirmed that the royals are attending less engagements compared to previous years. According to one expert, that in itself could lead to the “collapse” of the monarchy as we know it, but King Charles has another, more dire, problem he needs to handle.
According to royal expert Daniela Elser, eight words could be enough to “bring” down King Charles. In a piece at news.com.au, she explained that there are other members of the Royal Family who could pose an existential threat to the Firm’s health, as well as the new monarch’s reign.
Eight words can “bring down” King Charles’ reign, according to royal expert
The “idiot relatives,” Elser claims, are a “dangerous issue” that has “been left to fester.” More specifically, she believes Prince Andrew and Prince Harry could pose the biggest threat to Charles.
“So long as the eight words ‘The Duke of York’ and ‘The Duke of Sussex’ appear on the royal website as Counsellors of State, His Majesty is putting his reign – and the whole palace shebang – in jeopardy,” Elser said.
“[Andrew and Harry] are both a seemingly never ending font of trouble for the monarch yet both remain part of the royal fabric,” she continued.
According to a new report from Civitas, published in the Express, the Royal Family is in danger of “abolishing itself by stealth” as they spend less and less time with the British public.
King Charles has reportedly been warned that the monarchy itself is becoming too “distant” from its people, as the number of public engagements has drastically decreased.
The bombshell report raises concerns about the monarchy and King Charles’ mission moving forward. In 2014, there were a total of 3,338 royal engagements performed by the royals. Last year, there were only 2,079, a drop of 40 percent.
Of course, the deaths of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, as well as the departure of Harry and Meghan and Prince Andrew stepping back from his duties, has had a big impact on the numbers.
The royal family “on the brink of collapse,” report states
“The Royal family as we know it is on the brink of collapse and risks abolishing itself by stealth if the King doesn’t take steps to boost visits that have fallen radically over the last decade,” the Civitas report’s author, Frank Young, said, as quoted in the Express.
“Through death, scandal, and resignation, the Royal family is increasingly reliant on a few hard-working members, with Charles, Anne, and Edward doing almost half the work…. We now need new working royals or will have to accept a Royal Family that is more distant from the people than at any time in the past 100 years.”
As several prominent royals now are classed as ‘non-working’, King Charles has been urged to appoint more “working royals” who can meet people across the country.
Civias fears in its report that the number of royal engagements could shrink to “less than 1,000 a year” over the next decade.
King Charles was said to already favor a “slimmed down” Royal Family even before he took the throne. Frank Young, though, is actively warning the monarch against it.
“The King’s ambition might be misplaced and potentially misjudges the true public mood,” he said, as quoted by Express, adding that Princess Beatrice should become a full-time working royal, and that Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, could join as well.
“More people want the monarchy to remain unchanged than reflect changes in British life,” he concluded.
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