Palace Aide Once Had to Drive "9 Hours" and Switch a Toilet Seat to Avoid a "Calamity" With Prince Philip and King Charles

Stories of the King’s lavish habits have long become royal legend—from the valet said to squeeze toothpaste onto His Majesty's brush to tales of Charles traveling with his own bedroom furniture when visiting friends. In Robert Jobson's upcoming book, The Windsor Legacy, he addresses some of the rumors—and shares one story about an outrageous journey from England to Scotland to replace a toilet seat.

The longtime royal journalist and author noted that reports of "ironed shoelaces" have never been proven, but in Tom Bower's book, Rebel Prince, he claimed that Charles brought his own toilet seat on royal tours. Jobson added that "when challenged about this, during a 2018 walkabout in Brisbane, Australia, the Prince himself dismissed the claim, saying: 'Oh, don't believe all that crap.'"

"However, insiders suggest there is some truth to the story," Jobson continued. He notes one instance at "Craigowan Lodge, a rustic stone cottage about a mile from Balmoral Castle." It seems that King Charles, who was still the Prince of Wales at the time, "couldn't stand" the "cheap plastic loo seat" at the property, so servants would bring "a wooden one whenever he came to stay."

On one occasion, however, the staffers forgot to put the original plastic seat back in place when Charles returned home to England. Prince Philip—who "was prone to bristle at what he considered Charles's over-indulgent lifestyle"—was going to be staying at the lodge next, and Jobson described the resulting situation as "calamity."

Since the late duke would "undoubtedly notice" the change in toilet seat, the natural solution seemed to be to send an aide to Scotland. Traveling from The King's country home, Highgrove, "a drive of 500 miles taking around nine hours by car," the aide had one goal.

That was, of course, "to replace the solid wood lavatory seat with the original flimsy plastic one before the old duke arrived, thus avoiding an inevitable clash between father and son," Jobson wrote.

Prince Philip, prone to no fuss, usually traveled "with just one aide and a police protection officer who often had a suit carrier slung over his back," Jobson wrote. Meanwhile, Charles would go "to some lengths to dodge his father's stinging remarks," timing his arrival so Prince Philip wouldn't see his own "mountain of luggage."

Jobson also shared a story from Sandringham, when one of Charles's footmen arrived with a large bag "which was tightly packed with ingredients for Charles's special breakfasts." Unsurprisingly, Prince Philip didn't see the need.

"Philip would point out that the chefs on tap prepared meals that were, as he put it, ‘bloody good enough for the rest of us,'" Jobson noted.