Nicolai Haugsted
King Charles’ unusual evening routine has prompted a rather amusing complaint from his wife.
Life behind palace doors is not always quite as peaceful as the royal family’s public appearances might suggest.
Despite their demanding schedules and the countless traditions surrounding the monarchy, King Charles and Queen Camilla apparently enjoy spending their evenings much like any other married couple.
Their favourite way to unwind is surprisingly simple, although Camilla has now admitted that her husband has a rather irritating tendency to spoil the atmosphere.
Speaking in a new BBC documentary, the Queen has revealed how Charles regularly interrupts one of her favourite daily rituals without even trying.
Charles simply cannot keep quiet
Reading has always been an important part of Camilla’s life, and she explained that the royal couple regularly spend time enjoying their books together before dinner.
“My husband and I actually read before dinner. We just like sitting quietly and reading. He loves biographies and PG Wodehouse,” she said, referring to the celebrated British humorist behind the Jeeves and Wooster stories.
However, Charles’ enthusiasm for a good joke sometimes gets the better of him.
“I occasionally, when I’m deep in a book, hear him roaring with laughter about something. It’s very off-putting. I can’t get back into my book, or I’ll suddenly start weeping, but it’s a lovely, quiet time.”
Although the Queen clearly finds the interruptions distracting, her comments suggest that the couple’s shared reading sessions remain a cherished part of their routine.
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Reading has been her greatest education
Camilla’s passion for literature stretches back to childhood.
The Queen revealed that she once read the controversial novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover by torchlight as a teenager.
Her father, Major Bruce Shand, played an important role in developing her enthusiasm for books after discovering his own love of reading during his time as a prisoner of war.
“We must have been very, very young when my father started reading to us. I think that’s where my love of reading came from. We were transported into all sorts of other worlds.”
Camilla also reflected on the importance of literature in her education.
“I left school quite young because in my day women didn’t go to universities. So I think reading has been most of my education,” she explained.
But Charles’ occasional outbursts of laughter are apparently far from the only domestic habit that can test his wife’s patience.
The royal couple also disagree about the temperature
According to royal author Robert Hardman, Charles and Camilla have another recurring disagreement involving something considerably more ordinary than Crown Jewels or royal protocol.
The King reportedly prefers fresh air circulating through his rooms, while Camilla would rather keep the windows closed and the temperature comfortable.
In his book Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, Hardman described their ongoing disagreement.
“There’s a constant battle about it. He will have opened it. She will creep in behind and shut it.”
He also shared an example of the exchanges that supposedly follow.
“So there’s a lot of: ‘Oh, darling, you shut the window.’ ‘Yes, I have, because we’re all freezing.’ So a lot of banter goes on.”
The disagreement paints a familiar picture of married life, even if the couple happen to live in royal residences.
Charles has some rather particular routines
Over the years, several unusual stories have emerged about the King’s personal preferences.
Former palace employees have reportedly claimed that Charles likes a precise amount of toothpaste placed on his toothbrush each morning.
His bathing routine has also attracted attention.
Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, claimed in the documentary Serving the Royals: Inside the Firm that Charles preferred his bathwater lukewarm.
“The water temperature has to be just tepid,” Burrell said.
According to the former butler, the bath should also be “half-full”, with the plug positioned “in a certain position”.
Such accounts have never all been independently confirmed, but they have contributed to the King’s reputation for being particularly attentive to his daily routine.
Prince Harry revealed another unusual habit
Charles’ personal habits have also featured in the recollections of his youngest son, Prince Harry.
In his memoir Spare, Harry described occasionally encountering his father performing exercises that were hardly typical of a royal household.
“You might blunder in as he was doing his headstands. He performed them daily, in just a pair of boxers, propped against a door or hanging from a bar like a skilled acrobat.”
Harry explained that the exercises were intended to help Charles manage persistent physical discomfort.
“Prescribed by his physio, these exercises were the only effective remedy for the constant pain in Pa’s neck and back.”
The unusual routine offered another glimpse of a monarch whose private habits can be rather different from his formal public image.
Even travelling comes with special requirements
Royal author Tom Bower has previously claimed that Charles’ preference for familiar surroundings extends to his travels.
In his book Rebel King, Bower described preparations for a visit to northeast England that allegedly involved transporting a considerable amount of furniture.
“He [The King] sent his staff ahead a day early with a truck carrying furniture to replace the perfectly appropriate fittings in the guest rooms.”
The author claimed the delivery went well beyond a few personal belongings.
“And not just the odd chest of drawers: the truck contained nothing less than Charles and Camilla’s complete bedrooms, including the prince’s orthopaedic bed, along with his own linen.”
Against those accounts, Camilla’s latest revelation seems comparatively modest.
After all, the King’s habit of laughing too loudly at his books might be annoying when his wife is trying to concentrate, but it also reveals a more relaxed side of a monarch usually associated with ceremony and tradition.
For Camilla, the occasional interruption appears to be a small price to pay for an evening spent together.
