Prince Charles apparently once took the royal train to a pub in Penrith, north west England - and the trip cost £18,916
GettyPrince Charles has been known to enjoy a good pint in a British pub.
- Tom Bower's recently published biography on Prince Charles claims he lives a lavish lifestyle.
- He allegedly didn't know what clingfilm was, and takes truckloads of possessions with him on his travels, including his own toilet seat.
- According the book, he also once took a royal train to a pub in Penrith, north west England, a trip that allegedly cost £18,916.
Tom Bower's new unauthorised biography of Prince Charles suggests that he lives a rather lavish lifestyle.
Bower, an investigative journalist known for his explosive unauthorised biographies of public figures including media mogul Robert Maxwell, Richard Branson, and former prime minister Tony Blair, says he has interviewed over 120 people for the book on the future king, according to The Guardian.
Charles, he writes, "presides at the centre of a court with no place for democracy or dissenting views … like some feudal lord."
In addition to claims he didn't know what clingfilm was - and was heard "shrieking" at the site of kitchen staff using it to wrap up cold cuts - and that he takes truckloads of possessions, including his own toilet seat, with him on royal trips, Tom Bower's "Rebel Prince" includes a number of claims about Charles' extravagant travel habits.
Bower claims the Prince of Wales once took a journey from Highgrove, his family residence, to a pub in Penrith, north west England - a trip that cost £18,916, according to The Guardian.
On another occasion, while flying "Club Class" to Hong Kong on a chartered British Airways plane, Charles reportedly wrote in his journal: "It took me some time to realise … that this was not first class (!) although it puzzled me as to why the seat seemed so uncomfortable. Such is the end of Empire, I sighed to myself."
Bower's not the first biographer to write about Charles' alleged spendthrift ways when it comes to travel.
A book about the prince written by US author Sally Bedell Smith claims that when travelling to America in first class - naturally to reduce his carbon footprint - he reportedly complained that the upper class deck was "incredibly uncomfortable."