TAKE MY OWN THRONE ON TOUR? WHAT A LOAD OF C**P, SAYS CHARLES
PRINCE Charles turned the air blue yesterday when he dismissed claims he takes his own toilet seat with him on trips and told a radio show: “Don’t believe all that c**p!”
He betrayed a growing irritation with author Tom Bower’s portrayal of him as a pampered prince in a new biography, Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion And Defiance Of Prince Charles, on a tour of Australia with the Duchess of Cornwall.
He snapped when he was caught off guard by a reporter for Brisbane’s Hit 105 radio station, who asked about the mythical loo seat covered in soft white kid leather during a walkabout in the city’s Botanic Gardens.
Greeting him in the crowd, Jase Strozkiy said: “Hello Charles. Is it true that you carry your own toilet seat when you travel?” Charles, 69, replied: “I what?”, before adding: “Oh, don’t believe all that c**p. The very idea.”
Strozkiy then grilled the Duchess, 70, saying: “Hi, Camilla. So, he doesn’t carry his own toilet seat when he travels?” She too pooh-poohed the idea, telling him: “Don’t you believe that.”
Until now, Clarence House has refused to comment officially on claims that Charles has been known to take an array of items with him on his travels, including his orthopaedic bed, premium toilet paper, fresh linen, a chest of drawers, two landscapes of the Scottish Highlands... and the luxury loo seat.
Joke
But the claims have clearly irked Charles. On Wednesday, his communications secretary Julian Payne said on his personal Twitter account: “The Prince and the Duchess’s tour of Australia and Vanuatu begins: 30 engagements, 7 days, 1 Commonwealth Games, 0 personal loo seats.”
Friends of the Prince have suggested the famed toilet seat was a joke Christmas present given to him by Princess Anne many years ago.
Former press secretary to the Prince, Dickie Arbiter, said: “Good for Charles for speaking out. You’ll hear worse swear words on the radio most days.”
But Bower, 71, an investigative journalist and distinguished biographer, stood by the loo seat story. “I have an eye witness,” he said. “I am told that Camilla has definitely read the book.
“The loo seat is a trivial issue. There are far more serious questions in the book that he should answer. But the thing about Charles is he hates criticism. He is a first class critic of others but doesn’t like criticism of himself.”
The Prince and Camilla went to Broadbeach on the Gold Coast yesterday, where nine sharks including a Great White were caught in nets last year. Camilla took off her shoes and dipped her toes into the water.
“Don’t go in, darling,” her husband warned, as waves lapped the sand.