The Surprising Breakfast Prince Charles Insists On Having Every Morning

Prince Charles is known for possessing the odd quirk or two. Royal enthusiasts know he prefers a very specific bath time routine that must be adhered to each evening, lest he scold the staff member responsible.

It turns out that Prince Charles also has a breakfast routine that he never changes: Each morning, he indulges in a soft boiled egg, tea, and fruit (via World News Today). As his former personal chef, Mervyn Wycherley, explained to The Guardian. "His eggs had to be boiled for exactly four minutes. It was never anything other than a four-minute egg. His [staff] radioed his ETA ahead. I always kept three pans boiling — just to be safe."

Mervyn's story has been backed up by royal author Jeremy Paxman, who penned On Royalty. According to CheatSheet, Paxman's book backs up the claim that Prince Charles' staff cooks a series of eggs to ensure the future king has exactly the breakfast experience he desires. Paxman writes, "Because his staff were never quite sure whether the egg would be precisely to the satisfactory hardness, a series of eggs was cooked, and laid out in an ascending row of numbers. If the prince felt that number five was too runny, he could knock the top off number six or seven."

Breakfast isn't the only meal that Prince Charles has specific rules about: It turns out the royal also never eats lunch. According to USA Today, Prince Charles instead relies on his light breakfast routine to tide him over until dinner time. 

In her book Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, author Sally Bedell Smith adds that the Prince will add wheat germ and cereal to his breakfast as well (via CheatSheet). "He has a handful of his specially mixed wheat germ and cereal grains, with honey and preserves on a silver tray, a few pieces of fruit, and tea. He never eats lunch."

It probably comes as no surprise that the prince even adheres to the same dinner routine each night, even when he's traveling to the home of friends or other officials (via USA Today). In fact, he'll usually require his chef to make the trip alongside him to make sure the meal is up to his standards and preferences, and even his security team has a role. The prince reportedly always has a dry martini with dinner — and when out, his security team brings the drink in a special case.