Whether for functionality or just a small source of comfort, those who travel frequently often do so with a very particular — yet meticulously curated — assortment of travel accessories. I, for one, never board a plane without my 32-oz Nalgene water bottle, Rumpl travel blanket or a book. Similarly, Prince Charles never travels without a premixed martini or his toilet seat from home.
In Tina Brown’s new book The Palace Papers, which came out last week, Brown details the slew of items — or “paraphernalia that preceded his boss like the baggage train of a Tudor traveling court” — that Charles’ former aide, Michael Fawcett, was charged with packing ahead of trips both long and short, including “the Prince’s orthopedic bed, lavatory seat and Kleenex Velvet lavatory paper, plus two landscapes of the Scottish landscapes.”
“When he traveled to stay at friends’ country houses, a truck arrived the day before, bringing his bed, furniture, and even pictures, which his pampering aide Michael Fawcett ensured would be hung in his allotted bedroom in place of the possessions of his host,” Brown writes.
Of course, Charles isn’t the only royal with a very particular set of preferences where travel is involved. The Queen famously travels with the same Globe-Trotter luggage she’s been using since 1947, a slice of her favorite cake, a hot water bottle, a pint of blood … and also her own toilet paper, sealed with a sticker that only she is allowed to break. (Royals love their toilet paper, apparently.) Additionally, all members of the royal family travel with at least one black outfit at all times, in the event that someone dies while they are away.
And while traveling with one’s lavatory seat is definitely a pretty weird flex, there are actually a number of celebrities — Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Madonna and Mary J. Blige, chief among them — who are rumored to include a fresh toilet seat in their hotel room on their list of travel demands.
Further, as Brown notes in her book, this is the same man who required his valet to squeeze his toothpaste onto his toothbrush for him. So, really, it should come as a surprise to no one that he would also need Kleenex Velvet toilet paper and a few Scottish landscapes on his person at any given time.
Royals…they really are not just like us.
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