At the height of the heatwave sweeping Britain last month, 250 delegates gathered in the Throne Room at St James’s Palace for a reception on climate change.
The historic London building does not have air conditioning and the guests struggled to cope with the soaring temperatures, even though the curtains had been drawn in an attempt to keep out the heat and large fans were dotted around.
There was, however, one man who refused to give in to the heat: King Charles. Immaculately dressed as always, the top button of his shirt remained fastened and there was no question of him removing the jacket of his grey Anderson & Sheppard suit.
His only concession to the stifling atmosphere was to mop his brow discreetly from time to time using the lilac silk handkerchief that matched the colour of his Turnbull & Asser tie.
The Master of the Household, Vice Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt, was so worried about the monarch, who is still being treated for an unspecified form of cancer, that he held an electric fan next to the King’s head in a desperate attempt to cool him down.
It was only the latest example of the King’s determination to maintain standards in a world where such matters are increasingly considered to be of little or no importance.
The trend towards more relaxed dress codes was highlighted this week by our new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, a career politician who likes to burnish his ‘man of the people’ credentials by dressing as informally as possible.
King Charles kept his top button done up and there was no question of him removing his suit… although the Master of the Household, Vice Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt, held an electric fan next to the King’s head
While the King trieds valiantly to uphold standards, his younger son Harry seems determined to lower them, writes Richard Eden
Indeed, Burnham’s aides let it be known that he would wear a shirt and tie only when he was at the Houses of Parliament. On other occasions, he would wear casual outfits such as his favourite dark blue T-shirt and jeans.
Burnham donned a suit and tie for his visit to Buckingham Palace on Monday when he met the King and was asked to form a government. He promptly discovered that he would not be known as ‘Andy’ by the palace but the more formal ‘Andrew’.
The Court Circular, the official record of royal engagements undertaken by working members of the Royal Family, reported the next day: ‘His Majesty received in audience the Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP and requested him to form a new Administration.’
The moniker may have come as a surprise to Burnham, whose Labour campaign posters in the Makerfield by-election had all screamed: ‘Vote Andy’.
But the King is not the only member of the Royal Family who believes in maintaining formal terms of address. His sister, Princess Anne, once had an awkward exchange with the wife of a previous Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, during the couple’s first visit to Balmoral to stay with the late Queen Elizabeth II at her beloved Scottish residence.
Lancashire-born Cherie Blair recalled in her memoirs, Speaking For Myself: ‘At one point in that first year, Princess Anne came over and said something that included “Mrs Blair”. “Oh. Please call me Cherie,” I said. “I’d rather not,” she replied. “It’s not the way I’ve been brought up.”’
Cherie added that her relationship with the princess ‘went rapidly downhill and never recovered’.
While the King tried valiantly to uphold standards, his younger son seems determined to lower them. Prince Harry appeared in a podcast which was so un-regal that it came with a warning on the BBC Sounds website: ‘Contains very strong language, adult humour and some scenes of a sexual nature.’
On the X-rated podcast, Joe Marler Will See You Now, Harry gave his occupation as ‘Prince of England’ before proceeding to use foul language in the discussion with the former England rugby player, which covered subjects such as the grooming of their body hair.
It represented a new low for the duke, who had used his memoir, Spare, to disclose, among other things, how he had lost his virginity in a field behind a pub and used a cream with a scent that reminded him of his late mother Diana to treat frostbite on his penis after an expedition to the North Pole.
This week, I asked a friend of the King about his determination to maintain standards. He told me: ‘His Majesty believes that monarchy needs to be dignified.’
Clearly, that message hasn’t got through to all members of his family…
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