Strict rule King Charles enforces at every meal that defies royal luxury
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Andrew Parsons - Pool/Getty Images
King Charles III is known for implementing rigorous mealtime rules, according to his step-son, Tom Parker Bowles.
The 51-year-old son of Queen Camilla and retired British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles discussed his famous family and their ancestors’ eating habits in his 2024 book, Cooking And The Crown: Royal recipes from Queen Victoria to King Charles III.
The cookery tome spans more than 150 years of royal cuisine, showcasing a wealth of aristocratic recipes from Queen Mary’s birthday cake to George V’s curry.
Alongside weaving together information from the royal archives, the publication features contemporary accounts and personal insight, including details on Camilla and Charles’ penchant for mushroom foraging at Balmoral.
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The food critic also used Cooking And The Crown to discuss how the King likes to enforce a strict no-food-waste rule when it comes to dinner time.
Describing the monarch as a recycling champion who ‘appals’ refuse, Parker Bowles wrote that Charles tends to ban anything from being thrown away after meal times.
"There is no waste, everything is recycled, everything is used from the table. If anything is left over from the dinner, that will be made into something else or appear the next day,” he wrote, as per The Mirror.
“Nothing's allowed to be thrown out.”
Parker Bowels’ comments have previously been backed up by Royal author Richard Fitzwilliams.
He said: “King Charles is a huge fan of recycling and upcycling, and he has a strict no-waste policy. If things can be used again, they will.”
According to estimates, around 9.5 million tonnes of food is wasted in the UK each year.
That worrying statistic is coupled with the fact that 11 million people in the UK are struggling to get enough to eat, according to FareShare.
In 2023, Charles and Camilla launched The Coronation Food Project, aimed at reducing this colossal food waste statistic while supporting those living in food insecurity across Britain’s four nations.
Charles - described as a ‘food hero’ by the writer - has a rich history of advocating for sustainable action.
He previously hosted a reception in support of global biodiversity on behalf of the UK Government and launched a number of sustainability initiatives, as per Buckingham Palace.
These include the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), whose mission it is to ‘accelerate the transition to a sustainable future through the private sector’.
According to Buckingham Palace, staff from across the Royal Household also do their bit for the environment by monitoring and reducing energy used to heat, light, and cool buildings.
Meanwhile, the Gardens Team work to ensure that the gardens look their best ‘whilst encouraging wildlife and plant life to thrive’.
Pesticide use is kept to a minimum; sustainable plant life is encouraged, and out-of-date technology is handed over to Computer Aid International for refurbishment and upgrade.