A lot has been said and written about the king of England, but we bet you haven't heard these facts about King Charles
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Charles was bullied in school
Even royalty isn’t immune to the taunting of schoolchildren. Charles went to boarding school at Gordonstoun in Scotland, and to say he didn’t have the best experience there would be an understatement. His classmates picked on him, which would drive him to isolation.
“He was bullied mercilessly: in the classroom, at sports and at nights,” Fitzwilliams says. “He hated that school and should never have been sent there in the first place.”
The young Charles kept a stiff upper lip around his schoolmates, but he didn’t hide his pain from his family. “The people in my dormitory are foul. Goodness, they are horrid. I don’t know how anybody could be so foul,” he wrote in a circa 1964 letter. “They throw slippers all night long or hit me with pillows or rush across the room and hit me as hard as they can … I still wish I could come home. It’s such a hole this place!”
Charles’s horrible experiences leave us wondering why the royal family insisted he stay at Gordonstoun. “Unfortunately, Prince Philip was in charge of his education,” explains Fitzwilliams. “He loved Gordonstoun and thought his son needed toughening up.”
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He’s a huge fan of leftovers
Piling leftovers into Tupperware seems decidedly un-royal, but King Charles’s disdain for food waste trumps any desire for fresher grub.
“King Charles is a huge fan of recycling and upcycling, and he has a strict no-waste policy,” Fitzwilliams says. “If things can be used again, they will.” This philosophy applies to all aspects of the monarch’s life, be it the clothes and shoes he tends to wear for decades, Fitzwilliams adds, or, in this case, the meal plans in the royal palaces.
Camilla’s son Tom Parker-Bowles confirmed that the king is a champion of zero-waste dinners. “He does not tolerate food waste and urges that the leftover food should be served the next day or repurposed in another meal,” he stated. Royal author Catherine Mayer even claims in her book Charles: The Heart of a King that Charles is a fan of doggie bags: According to his former private secretary, he gets “leftovers wrapped up” and brings them back for his next meal.
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Charles travels with his own bed—and toilet seat
Guilty of overpacking? Time to relax! Even if you regularly arrive at your weekend destination with two large suitcases, your luggage is certainly modest compared with the king’s. While Charles tends to watch his money in some areas of his life, he does have his non-negotiable royal extravagances—and they are pretty unusual too!
“The king is known to travel with his own bed, including when he goes on shorter trips,” Fitzwilliams says. Author Tina Brown claims in her book The Palace Papers that the now-king would send trucks to his friends’ houses when he planned to stay overnight, packed with everything from his “orthopaedic bed” to his “lavatory seat and Kleenex Velvet lavatory paper.”
He’d even bring his own paintings to put on the walls, preferably some showing the Scottish Highlands.
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He’s a workaholic—and is even too busy for lunch
When he was Prince of Wales, Charles worked seven days a week, usually starting after breakfast and often working past midnight, according to the BBC documentary Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70. Prince Harry recalls in the doc that his father would have “dinner ridiculously late at night” and then return to his desk until he fell “asleep on his notes to the point where he’ll wake up with a piece of paper stuck to his face.”
“Charles was notorious in the past. He was known to be a real workaholic, he would never ever stop,” says Fitzwilliams. And it wasn’t just about late nights, he adds: “He never had lunch, he was too busy to even think about it.” The expert explains it was Charles’s cancer diagnosis that forced him to slow down and change his habits: “Now, it seems, he does have lunch—and half an avocado is usually part of the meal.”
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He supports more than 600 charities
Charity work has always been important in the royal household. The British royals currently support more than 1,000 organizations as patrons or presidents, including everything from the British Red Cross to kids and cancer charities, rugby clubs, orchestras and the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, where Charles and Camilla adopted several puppies.
Charles himself seems to be the family’s record holder when it comes to patronages. After his coronation, the king extended his already impressive portfolio by another more than 200 organizations, making him patron or president of 669 charities in total. His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, “only” headed 492.
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Charles is a royal DJ
How old is King Charles? Young enough to drop some beats! To mark Commonwealth Day in 2025, the king released a playlist on Apple Music, sharing some of his all-time favorite songs. Charles, according to Fitzwilliams, is “very keen on music” and often “chooses the songs for royal events.” That being said, some royal fans were still pretty surprised about his modern and very diverse taste.
Charles’s official playlist includes 17 songs, ranging from Bob Marley and Beyoncé to Kylie Minogue and Diana Ross. “Throughout my life, music has meant a great deal to me,” he said in a video message when the playlist was released. “It has that remarkable ability to bring happy memories flooding back from the deepest recesses of our memory, to comfort us in times of sadness and to take us to distant places.”
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Charles’s car runs on wine and cheese
Charles has been known as a passionate eco-warrior for decades, and being king hasn’t stopped him from speaking out about all things climate and sustainability. Trying to cut down his own carbon footprint, Charles came up with an unusual idea to make his beloved Aston Martin DB6, a 21st birthday present from his late mother Queen Elizabeth, more environmentally friendly: The car runs on wine and cheese. Yes, you read that right!
Of course, this doesn’t mean that the king literally pours wine and bits of cheddar into his fancy car. Instead, the Aston Martin runs on bioethanol produced by British company Green Fuels. This gas is made with surplus English white wine and whey, a byproduct of cheese making.
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He is an honorary life member of a magic society
Know your magic tricks? You’re officially in royal company! Charles is a member of The Magic Circle in London, “the world’s most famous magic society,” as it prides itself on its website. The club was founded in 1905 and has more than 1,700 members, including celebrities such as David Copperfield, Jamie Raven and Stephen Fry.
To join, you need references and must pass an interview, plus demonstrate your magic talent by doing a trick in front of members and judges. “Charles applied to become a member in 1975 and performed a cups and balls trick,” Fitzwilliams says. In case you’re not (yet) fit for a membership: This is the trick where balls magically appear and disappear beneath cups, sometimes being replaced by other objects. It seems Charles passed the test with flying colors, as he’s now an honorary life member.
While it’s (unfortunately) unlikely that you’ll see the king in action, you can still visit The Magic Circle when you’re in London. They run regular magic shows and give behind-the-scenes tours.
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He loves painting with watercolors
His bright red first official portrait as king caused quite a stir, but what people sometimes forget is that Charles himself is a keen painter. A self-taught artist, he is known for his watercolor paintings, which often show countryside scenes and royal residences.
“Charles has been painting since the early 1980s,” Fitzwilliams says. And the king is equally interested in fellow artists. “He sponsors up-and-coming painters and supports them through the Royal Drawing School, which he is the founding patron of.” Jonathan Yeo, the British painter behind the much-talked-about King Charles portrait, remembered in an interview how he’d talk all things art with Charles during the sittings, including techniques and even the brushes he used to paint him.
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Charles completed a parachute course
Charles was the first ever heir to the British throne who jumped out of a plane! In the early 1970s, he made his first parachute drop as part of a six-month flying course at the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell. His jump happened after flying at 1,200 feet into the English Channel just off Studland Bay, Dorset, about two and a half hours southwest of London.
At a military ceremony in 2021, the king recalled his jump, revealing that things didn’t quite go to plan. Charles said he was “initially upside down with my legs in the rigging lines” and had to be “pulled out of the water by the Royal Marines.” However, the little mishap didn’t stop him from repeating his parachute adventure. In 1978, a year after being appointed colonel-in-chief of the Parachute Regiment of the British Army, he completed a parachute training course.
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He has performed in Shakespearean plays (and others)
Charles is a lover of the arts, especially when it comes to classic Shakespeare works. He even made a surprise appearance in a skit for the BBC’s Shakespeare Live! in 2016, marking 400 years since William Shakespeare’s death.
The king’s soft spot for Shakespeare goes back to his teenage years, when he studied drama at his boarding school, stealing the show as Exeter in Henry V and later landing the lead part in Macbeth. A former classmate of Charles later recalled how his mother, the queen, “huddled in her fur coat,” attended a private performance of Pirates of Penzance (another play young Charles was in) for family and friends.
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His No. 1 hobby is gardening
Charles might be the British monarch, but that doesn’t mean he can’t share a hobby (or two) with us commoners: Like many of us, the king is a keen gardener. “He bought Highgrove House in 1980 and has taken great pride in maintaining his gardens ever since,” says Fitzwilliams. “He’s an obsessive gardener, and he’s especially interested in sustainable gardening.”
Queen Camilla shares his green thumb, but according to royal commentator Angela Levin, she “doesn’t interfere with his garden at Highgrove.” Luckily, the queen has her own house and garden just down the road where she can explore their shared passion. As for Charles’s beloved garden, Levin says “he has … all different sorts of things, lots of poppies everywhere and things done in the special color of his late mother.”
Curious to check out Charles’s gardening skills for yourself? Call yourself lucky, as Highgrove is open to the public!
About the expert
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Why trust us
Reader’s Digest has published hundreds of stories on the British royal family, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating facets of the monarchy. We regularly cover topics including the latest royal news, the history and meaning behind time-honored traditions, and the everyday quirks of everyone’s favorite family members, from Queen Elizabeth’s daily snack to Prince William’s confessions about his home life. We’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on facts about King Charles, Astrid Hofer tapped her experience as a London-based journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering topics including the British royal family. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Richard Fitzwilliams, royal expert and commentator; phone interview, Oct. 20, 2025
- Charles: The Heart of a King by Catherine Mayer
- The Palace Papers by Tina Brown
- Guardian: “What is wrong with everyone?”
- BBC: “King Charles: A timeline of his recent health treatment”
- BBC: “King Charles: First official portrait since coronation is unveiled, painted by Jonathan Yeo”
- BBC: “Prince Charles: Video shows ‘upside down’ parachute jump”
- BBC YouTube: “When King Charles performed the best Hamlet”
- Mirror: “King Charles’s strict mealtime ban and unusual competition with Queen Camilla”
- Sky News: “King Charles takes on more than 200 new charity patronages – including some close to his mother’s heart”
- Apple Music: “His Majesty King Charles III’s Playlist”
- Forbes: “King Charles’ Aston Martin DB6 runs on wine and cheese”
- The Magic Circle: “The Magic Circle Is the World’s Most Famous Magic Society”
