King Charles III is ready to show off his fancy footwork.
The British monarch is turning the big 7-5 on Nov. 14, and he’s already kicking off the birthday festivities. On Monday, the eldest son of the late Queen Elizabeth II is hosting a tea dance at Highgrove, his private residence. Guests will be greeted with live music and afternoon tea in the Orchard Room, which overlooks the king’s prized garden. There will also be an original composition created by Bill Goulding, a 14-year-old gardening enthusiast who’s a frequent guest of Highgrove Gardens.
Guests born in 1948 – the same year as the king – received an invitation.
When the former Prince of Wales turned 70, his mother held a birthday party for him in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. Representatives from over 400 charities were invited. This year, the king will celebrate his birthday on Tuesday "in a more low-key manner," The Telegraph reported. Only family and close friends will be in attendance.
But as the king ages, he is still holding on to some relics from his childhood.
In Prince Harry’s memoir "Spare," the Duke of Sussex detailed his father’s great adoration for a teddy bear, one that he clung to as a child who was bullied in boarding school.
"It was a pitiful object, with broken arms and dangly threads, holes patched up here and there," the 39-year-old wrote. "It looked, I imagined, like Pa might have after the bullies had finished with him. Teddy expressed eloquently, better than Pa ever could, the essential loneliness of his childhood."
Royal author Christopher Andersen claimed that Charles is "one of the most eccentric sovereigns Great Britain has ever had."
In 2022, Andersen wrote a book about the monarch titled "The King: The Life of Charles III." According to Andersen, there are a few, surprising things that Charles just can’t leave the palace without.
"He still travels with a childhood teddy bear… he’s had since he was a very small child," Andersen alleged to ETOnline. "The only person who’s been allowed to mend King Charles’ teddy bear is his childhood nanny, Mabel Anderson, who he remains very close to."
Andersen also alleged to the outlet that Charles "travels with a custom-made toilet seat" made fit for a king. Palace insiders have also alleged that "when he goes to dinner parties at other people’s homes he often brings his own chef, so they can prepare a meal for him that he’ll eat separately at the table.
"He wants what he wants when he wants it," Andersen added.
That wasn’t the only quirk Andersen discovered along the way.
"A number of royals have this, the queen had it as well – they don’t like square ice cubes," he claimed. "They carry around ice cube trays. [They] have them brought with them wherever they go, because they don’t like the clinking sound that square cubes make."
Andersen told the outlet that palace aides allegedly need to comply with Charles’ demands or risk being faced with his "volcanic temper."
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"[He’s] very moody, very temperamental," Andersen claimed. "He has a volcanic temper, in fact… He’s very capable of flying into rages."
Charles faces the task of preserving a 1,000-year-old monarchy that his mother nurtured for seven decades. Andersen noted that all eyes are on the monarch.
The queen passed away in 2022 at Scotland's Balmoral Castle. She was 96.
"He's been waiting for 70 years to take this job," Andersen explained. "That's longer than any previous monarch… He's already taken some moves to slim down the monarchy a bit... He just sold 15 of his mother's cherished racehorses... There will be other cutbacks. They will be looking at and touring some of the palaces and museums."
"I think one of the most interesting moves that Charles actually proposed years ago is taking some of the better-known royals off the royal payroll," he shared. "For example, he suggested at one point that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, [Prince] Andrew and Fergie’s children, become ladies, that they be asked to relinquish their titles as princesses."
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"If the monarchy survives and flourishes, it will be because of Charles," said Andersen. "If it doesn't, it will be because of Charles. Everything hinges on what King Charles III becomes."
