Prince on toilet rumour: ‘Don’t believe all that crap’

It was said to be made of soft white kid leather, given to him as a joke Christmas present by the Princess Royal, his elder sister.

But the Prince of Wales found his personal lavatory seat so comfortable that it was packed, at his insistence, every time he travelled abroad — or so the rumour went.

Now, the heir to the throne has had his say, apparently so frustrated by the absurdity of the claim that he could not help but swear. “My own what?” he asked, incredulously, when asked about the allegation during a radio interview in Australia. “Oh, don’t believe all that crap. The very idea.”

The rumour was revived in a new biography, Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles, by Tom Bower. But it has been published and republished many times over the years and never, until now, been addressed by the heir to the throne.

He was caught off guard when asked about the mythical lavatory seat by a DJ from Brisbane’s Hit105 station as he carried out an engagement in the city alongside the Duchess of Cornwall as they embarked on a seven-day tour of Australia. Before swiftly moving past the microphone, the Duchess of Cornwall was also cornered and asked if her husband’s denial was true. “So he doesn’t carry his own toilet seat when he travels?” the reporter asked. “Don’t you believe that,” she said with a laugh. The seat is one of the Prince’s many alleged habits and eccentricities for which he has long been lampooned. It is often accompanied, as in the latest biography, by the claim that he also travels with his own personal supply of Kleenex Velvet toilet paper.

Other snippets that have gone down in Royal folklore include the claim that the Prince has his toothpaste squeezed onto his toothbrush by his valet.

He has been said to employ Indian military veterans to pick slugs off his plants by flashlight. He is also been said to take his own organic food on his travels and receive a supply of milk from the Windsor herd. When the Prince turned 64 in 2012, Clarence House decided to mark the milestone by shattering many of these oft-repeated rumours. It was not true, for example, that at breakfast he is presented with seven boiled eggs, each cooked to varying degrees of softness and lined up so he can choose his favourite. Nor was it correct to suggest that he dislikes all modern architecture. He does, however, pay income tax and regularly attends church.