An intimate and highly revealing portrait of an often-anguished man who’s at last found contentment on the eve of a landmark birthday. For 12 months, Royal author ANGELA LEVIN has been talking to Charles’s closest friends, aides and relatives – as well as spending time with the Prince himself
The Prince of Wales is in good humour as he strides through the 2,000-acre estate surrounding Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland, which he bought for the nation for £45 million in 2007 – thanks to one of the biggest mortgages in British history.
Back then everything, including the 18th-century Palladian mansion itself, was run down. Now, 11 years on and exquisitely restored, it encapsulates many of the ideas Prince Charles has been championing for decades. It’s a popular tourist attraction – the house boasts an outstanding collection of Chippendale furniture and there’s an organic food market in the grounds. You can also holiday here, get married or learn a traditional craft such as carpentry or stonemasonry.
In her final moments as a commoner, Meghan Markle reaches for the security of Prince Charles’s arm to guide her to the altar of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, and into British history, at May’s Royal Wedding
Meghan is grateful for the unscripted support he showed her mother, Doria Ragland, at her wedding
Charles and Camilla enjoy their own Highland Fling during a garden party at Dumfries House
Charles putting the Duchess of Sussex at ease at this year’s Trooping the Colour
The key aim of most of the facilities, however, is education: to give those who’ve had few opportunities a chance to turn their lives around. It’s also provided a huge shot in the arm for a local economy ravaged by pit closures.
I have to walk fast to keep up with the Prince as he charges ahead, pointing out the many improvements, stopping to chat to visitors, staff and stallholders – a trusty pair of secateurs in his jacket pocket in case a plant or tree needs a quick trim. Also in our little party is Michael Fawcett, the exuberant but controversial figure who began his working life as footman to the Queen and who now runs The Prince’s Foundation, which is overseeing the regeneration. And Charles’s first cousin Lord Snowdon, better known as David Linley, who is second in command on the Dumfries project.
As we make our way through the glorious woodlands, the Prince cracks a series of jokey one-liners, often at his own expense. Having followed him for the past year, I’ve noticed the joke count steadily increasing as his 70th birthday on November 14 creeps ever closer. At an earlier event he chuckled ‘I’m losing my marbles’, adding later: ‘I’m falling apart. “Don’t worry,” people keep telling me, “you have brilliant genes.” But the trouble is I can’t get into them!’
Is humour Charles’s way of coping with such a significant milestone, I asked someone particularly close to him? After all, most people his age are nostalgically looking back on their career while he is still waiting, far longer than any previous Prince of Wales, for his regal destiny to begin.
‘He is so focused on his many projects, I don’t think he’s bothered about this birthday,’ was the reply, which may or may not be true. But at least Charles knows now that he will be King. During his disastrous marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales, his popularity plummeted so low that many said he was not fit to wear the crown. Unsurprisingly, his Goonish sense of humour all but deserted him too.
It has been a long, tortuous climb back, but the past few years have undoubtedly been his best yet. The Queen showed her support by confirming in April that he would follow her as head of the Commonwealth. He’s happily settled with the Duchess of Cornwall, the former Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he has loved since his early 20s.
The warmth between the Prince and the Duchess is evident in this picture of the pair at Royal Ascot in June
He’s also terribly proud of how his sons, Princes William and Harry, have coped with their mother’s shocking death and, unlike most senior Royals before them, have married their own choice of partner. Contrary to reports, I was told that the Prince is not jealous of the Middletons seeing his grandchildren, Prince George, five, Princess Charlotte, three, and Prince Louis, who was born in April, more than he does.
‘It’s poppycock that he doesn’t see his grandchildren,’ said an insider. ‘He’s besotted and goes gooey when he talks about them. Rather than being jealous, he feels lucky that the Middletons have the time to be there for them, whereas his diary is scheduled months in advance. I’ve seen his grandchildren, who call him Grandpa Wales, climb all over him when they get together, something young children wouldn’t do if they felt they didn’t know him.’
I was lucky enough to attend the first of Charles’s birthday celebrations, for about 6,500 people from the charities he supports, on May 22 in the gardens of Buckingham Palace three days after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding.
The celebration began with a touching speech from Prince Harry, who doubtless wanted to show how grateful he was for the discreet, caring way his father stepped in to walk Meghan down part of the aisle after her father pulled out pleading illness. The whole nation also remembers the way Prince Charles took the arm of Doria, the bride’s mother, when she looked bewildered at the end of the ceremony.
Anyone who thinks the soap-opera antics of Meghan’s father, half-sister and half-brother have affected Charles’s feelings for his new daughter-in-law couldn’t be more wrong.
‘On the contrary,’ I was told by an immaculate source close to the Prince. ‘There have been so many traumas and crises within the personal life of the Royal Family, from the Duke of Windsor onwards. And many Royal divorces. That’s why the Duchess of Sussex’s troubled family background has endeared her to Charles even more.’
It’s not just dysfunctional families that unite Charles and Meghan. They have bonded over art, history and culture. Meghan is particularly keen to learn about earlier Royals and the artists who have painted them. The Prince believes she is ‘incredibly smart’ and, having been trained by the Hollywood machine, is uniquely equipped to cope with the endlessly scrutinised life of a Royal.
‘Camilla gets on very well with her too,’ continued the source. ‘Not least because both of them have joined the Royal Family from the outside. Camilla goes out of her way to find time to spend with Meghan, to get to know her and make her feel welcome. She’s the ideal mother-in-law.’
Prince Charles is, of course, thrilled that Harry and Meghan are expecting a baby – an announcement, friends say, that’s made him more passionate than ever about his lifelong fight to protect the environment. His vast array of green interests include sustainability, climate change, organic food and plastic waste – he was giving speeches about what a problem this would become as far back as 1969.
Today the Prince is cautiously relieved to see growing numbers who feel he’s been vindicated. ‘Many have stopped thinking his views were the musings of an eccentric and that instead he was way ahead of the times,’ said a close friend.
So what sort of ruler will King Charles III be? Over the past year, as well as watching him closely at countless engagements, I have spoken to many of his closest friends, aides and relatives to find out. For example, the monarch is expected to keep their views private. Will Charles conform? Even if he’d like to, it will be hard for anyone his age to change the habits of a lifetime. Most of the people I spoke to turned out to be ardent fans, insisting the Prince was ‘vastly underestimated’. Some criticised his ‘meddling’. They all agreed, however, that he was both ‘complex’ and ‘dutiful’.
Elizabeth Buchanan, his former private secretary, said: ‘Break the stick of rock that is the Prince of Wales and it reads duty, duty, duty all the way through. Previous Princes of Wales haven’t behaved well. This Prince could have followed suit.’ Instead she believes he has succeeded in giving his life both purpose and meaning.
She is fervently positive about Charles becoming monarch – and outspoken on the subject of his alleged meddling. ‘It is annoying when people ask “What will he be like as King?” when we have decades of seeing this remarkable man at work and the enormous difference for the better he has made. Some say he is interfering; he is not. He has spent his life being shown and witnessing problems. What is he to do? Wring his hands? No. He believes it would be criminally negligent to see problems and not try to help put them right. So he reports on what he sees. He suggests – not demands – solutions. He believes he is there to serve the people and do the best he can for everybody. Why is that wrong?’
Prince Charles’s big birthday is being marked by a ‘tapestry of colour’ in his much-loved 15-acre Highgrove garden. A narrow walled space called Azalea Walk has been filled with 18 varieties of hydrangeas, azaleas and clematis. Along the top of one wall are busts of individuals who have been important to him.
Charles’s increasingly frantic efforts to preserve his modesty while wearing a kilt on a gusty day at the 2008 Mey Highland Games in Caithness reduced Camilla to tears of laughter
One is of the poet Kathleen Raine, who was a mother figure to the Prince. When she died in 2003, he said she gave him ‘inspiration, love and encouragement’. She, meanwhile, had written to a friend: ‘I have never met a man so lonely… he needs somebody to listen to him and protect him.’
This role has doubtless been filled by Camilla, whom Charles regularly refers to as ‘my darling wife’ – and one of the things that strikes you most about them as a couple is laughter. Pure, unaffected gales of mirth – often prompted by Camilla’s famously earthy sense of humour.
‘They have a lot of fun together,’ an aide told me. ‘On their visit to Devon and Cornwall this summer, some water was spilt as the helicopter took off. She flicked it at him and he flicked it right back. It would make him so happy if she were made Queen, and he will obviously do his best to make it happen.’
Crucially, Charles’s mother has finally accepted Camilla. A while ago, I watched as the Queen and the Duchess of Cornwall sat talking animatedly throughout a horse-training session at Buckingham Palace stables.
Another source of increasing happiness to the Prince is that he can now see that many of his key projects have made a significant difference. One is The Prince’s Trust, a charity that has helped 870,000 young people, many of whom were homeless, to turn their lives around.
Prince Charles bought the 2,000-acre estate surrounding Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland, and gave it to the nation in 2007
I was at the London Palladium in March for The Prince’s Trust Awards. It was seamlessly efficient until Sir Tom Jones had difficulty reading the Autocue and stumbled over the winner’s name. When Prince Charles moved centre stage to speak, he cheekily told Jones: ‘Next time you come, please bring your binoculars.’ It brought the house down.
I was told his speeches are written by a member of the household, but ‘the Prince usually rewrites them, or ad libs on the spur of the moment’.
I later asked the CEO of The Prince’s Trust, Dame Martina Milburn, who has worked with him for 14 years, to tell me about him. ‘He has an amazing ability to connect with some of the most challenging teenagers,’ she said. ‘When he is due for a visit, some of the very stroppy ones tell me they will refuse to talk to him. But once they meet him, they invariably change their mind. Afterwards they say they didn’t think he would be so inspiring.’
Lord Snowdon is similarly enthusiastic. ‘When he walks into the room it lights up, and the minute people are in his presence they excel because that is what they know he wants. I think what he achieves and how he achieves it is extraordinary.’
Unilever CEO Paul Polman believes the Prince could have succeeded at many different careers.
I met Polman at a party in July at which Charles announced a fellowship programme – created in honour of his birthday – for Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership. He told me: ‘If he’d had a different life, he could have been a successful entrepreneur. He has incredible energy. I feel energised just sitting next to him. If he was free, I’d offer him a job immediately.’
Back at Dumfries House, having spent much of the day taking in what it has to offer, the evening was spent at a candlelit black-tie dinner for 40 in the house itself. The Prince wore a dark green velvet jacket, kilt, sporran and black patent-leather shoes.
The meal was made and served by young people who had been helped by The Prince’s Trust. Some had been homeless and living on the street just a few months ago. They did a splendid job.
The evening concluded with two outstanding bagpipe players. Prince Charles – happy, in love and brimming with vitality on the brink of his 70th birthday – merrily tapped his feet.
Seeds for breakfast and no lunch… Why Charles is fit as a mountain goat at 70
This summer I accompanied Prince Charles on a trip to Kew Gardens in west London. It was potentially an undemanding visit for him, to see the magnificently restored 18th-century Great Pagoda in the grounds.
Charles admired the outside, peeped inside… and then spontaneously ran Superman-style up the 253 steps to the very top without getting breathless – and then ran straight back down again.
I was open-mouthed. It epitomised the Prince’s astonishing fitness for a man of 70 and also his unpredictability and child-like love of fun.
‘You can always blame me if any of this goes wrong,’ Charles told Commonwealth troops after a flying visit to see them in New Zealand in 2017
While in Lyons earlier this year, above, he delighted his hosts with an enthusiastic ‘Merci’, before tipping back a local red
At breakfast, Prince Charles has a cup of tea with a spoonful of honey, which ‘he adores’. He doesn’t eat lunch. ‘It makes him feel sleepy,’ a former aide disclosed
His main physical activity is walking. ‘In Balmoral he walks straight up mountains like a goat,’ an insider revealed. ‘Few people can keep up with him. Nor does he feel the cold. Even inside he prefers it cold – much to the discomfort of others.’
How he does it is a mystery that seems at odds with his rather frugal diet.
For breakfast, he likes a concoction of seeds with milk plus dried fruit such as dates and prunes. He also has a cup of tea with a spoonful of honey, which ‘he adores’. He doesn’t eat lunch. ‘It makes him feel sleepy,’ a former aide disclosed.
Teatime is regularly missed too. Occasionally he will have an egg-mayonnaise sandwich, ‘literally the size of a large stamp’, plus a ‘bite-size’ piece of fruit cake and another cup of tea with honey.
Dinner is his one meal of the day. Charles eats organic meat but not during Lent or on Friday, when he will only eat fish. He also enjoys apple pie or crumble, often served with cream.
Angela Levin has had exclusive access to Prince Charles’s closest aides and friends
‘Even then,’ said a regular dinner guest at Highgrove, ‘he eats very little and can’t understand why people overeat, don’t exercise or have self-discipline.’
Charles’s punishing work ethic hasn’t diminished with age. A former member of staff admitted: ‘I have no idea how he does it. I am much younger but after a trip abroad I usually sleep for two days, whereas he gets back and carries on with the next engagement. He is relentless.
‘Being 70 won’t stop him. His age doesn’t make him feel life is over. Or think, “Phew, the job’s done.” Instead it’s always, “What can I do to make a difference?” The feeling never leaves him.’
The Prince works seven days a week. He has breakfast at 8am, then reads briefs and does paperwork until his public engagements begin about 10am. It’s then usually non-stop. He has a quick bath before dining, often with guests, after which he tries to watch BBC2’s Newsnight.
At 11pm he goes to his desk to write his infamous ‘black spider’ letters, often pages long. He regularly works until 2am but sometimes falls asleep at his desk. He uses an iPad rather than a computer so he can read documents on the move, and he doesn’t have a mobile phone.
He also takes care to squeeze in little indulgences. He reads voraciously and listens to audio books in the bath (the water always being recycled for use in the garden). Someone close to him told me: ‘He adores Harry Potter, especially when it is being read by Stephen Fry.’ He also devours history books and Shakespeare’s poetry.
Charles and Camilla share a laugh together at a Clarence House garden party in 2010
Prince Charles is rarely happier than in the gardens of Highgrove, his Gloucestershire retreat, where plants are given water recycled from the baths
The Prince has had a lifelong passion for music, especially opera. He played the piano, trumpet and cello as a child, has a ‘strong’ bass voice and sang with the Bach Choir. His tastes stretch from Wagner to Leonard Cohen and he’s a famously keen watercolourist.
As with any of us, his personal happiness counts for a lot. So the success of his marriage to Camilla – ‘he definitely still has a twinkle in his eye’, said one aide – and his improving relationship with Prince William and particularly Prince Harry help fight the ageing process too.
One of Charles’s friends told me: ‘The Princes have helped make him more tactile and he’s really mellowed.’
The Prince has also spent a lifetime seeking spiritual fulfilment. A close friend explained: ‘He is basically Christian but feels at ease in any of the major faiths. He believes a strong faith is like a backbone and gives you strength to cope with loss. He also knows there is an afterlife and is not afraid of death.’
Just before the Millennium, Charles built what is known as his Sanctuary in his Highgrove garden. It looks like a Noddy house for one, has no electricity, but is a consecrated place where Charles goes to pray.
Revealed an insider: ‘Inside the atmosphere is peaceful and holy, with an extraordinary aura, especially with the candles lit.’
Highgrove itself, where he can be at one with nature, contributes to his calm. Charles loves nothing more than laying hedges and pruning shrubs and trees in his 15-acre garden.
When former Home Secretary David Blunkett, who has been blind from birth, came to dinner, Charles took him around. ‘Although he couldn’t see anything, Prince Charles guided him to different flowers to smell and touch,’ recalled another guest. ‘It was very moving.’
The large kitchen garden provides fruit and vegetables for the family in whichever home he is occupying. An aide revealed: ‘Prince Charles loves asparagus but vegetables like carrots and courgettes are grown very small for crudité plates. Any surplus is made into jam and chutney. Very little is frozen. His Highness likes his food to be seasonal.’