King Charles had a special bond with his childhood teddy bear that continued well into adulthood, according to Page Six.
In a new biography The King: The Life of Charles III, Christopher Andersen claims that the King’s former valet, Michael Fawcett, was in charge of caring for his stuffed animal when the King was well into his forties. There was also a former nanny, Mabel Anderson, who was brought out of retirement anytime the teddy bear needed mending.
The nanny “was the only human being allowed to take needle and thread to Prince Charles’ teddy bear. Every time that teddy needed to be repaired, you would think it was his own child having major surgery,” Andersen writes in the book.
Fawcett was also reportedly in charge of squeezing toothpaste onto Charles’ monogrammed toothbrush, shaving his face, helping him put on trousers, and lacing up his shoes, according to Page Six. He also was responsible for laying out the royal PJs and turning down his bed every night.
Andersen also interviewed the gardening staff at Charles’ Highgrove estate for his book. The head gardener said he woke up every day to a list of “instructions and complaints written by his boss in red ink.”
The former Prince of Wales would stand on his porch and allegedly bark orders through a green megaphone if not happy with the job being done. “For someone who said he was bullied as a child, Prince Charles clearly enjoyed bullying us,” a Highgrove staffer told Andersen. “He could be pleasant and courteous, but just as much of the time, he was moody and mean. He didn’t think twice about shouting insults at you if you put a foot wrong.”
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