Camilla managed to make Carlo change his eating habits. Thirty years after their first meeting, the queen convinced the king not to skip lunch anymore, a habit that the sovereign had adopted several decades ago to dedicate himself with greater concentration to work. According to what royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith writes in her blog ‘Royals Extra’, Camilla encouraged the king to reverse his lifelong eating habit to help him get betternow that he is being treated for cancer.
It has long been known that Carlo skips lunch so as not to have distractions from his busy schedule, however, the Express, citing the American royal expert’s blog, reports that Camilla encouraged him to stop skipping meals completely. “The Queen – says Bedell Smith – has played the dual role of representing the King in engagements in Britain and looking after her husband’s well-being at home. Not unlike Queen Mary, she keeps an eye on her husband and knows how to advise him when it is necessary. After decades of skipping the midday meal to fit more work into his busy days, I am told that King Charles III is having lunch.”
It is said that the habit of skipping lunch comes from maniacal nature with which the monarch approaches work. His former press secretary Julian Payne told the Mirror that his staff had to find alternatives to lunch to ensure the king had enough energy to get through his long working days. “The king doesn’t eat lunch – he had said -, therefore, one of the first lessons I learned, when I was traveling with him, was to have a big breakfast or bring some snacks“.
“The king’s working day is rather incessant. It starts with radio news headlines and a breakfast of seasonal fruit salad and seeds with tea,” said the former collaborator. As a committed environmentalist, Carlo wants to minimize the carbon footprint of his diet and in 2021 he told the BBC that for most of the week he opts for plant-based meals. “For years – said the king – I have not eaten meat or fish except twice a week and I eat dairy products only once a week”.