PRIVATE PASSIONS
From architecture to animals, the King has a wide range of interests to help him relax
Britain’s best-loved gardener Alan Titchmarsh summed up Charles’s passions when he told hello! last year: “There is no doubting the King’s devotion and dedication to the landscape, to the environment, to sustainability. I think we know his feelings, even though he may no longer feel able to express them as King in the way he did as the Prince of Wales.”
Throughout his 70 years as heir to the throne, Charles was able to relax and take his mind off his often challenging work through a variety of private passions and will no doubt hope to continue these as monarch.
It’s no secret the King is a huge advocate of spending time in the natural world. In fact, for photos taken to mark his 70th birthday, he was shown wearing Wellington boots and carrying a basket for eggs and buckets of feed for his Burford brown and Marans chickens.
Taken in the grounds of Highgrove in Gloucestershire, the photo shows him to be in his element as the birds cluck and gather around him.
Our feathered friends aren’t the only ones he favours. The King is also a fan of dogs and is completely enamoured of his wife’s Jack Russell rescue pooches, Beth and Bluebell. The Queen Consort adopted the pair from Battersea Dogs & Cats home more than ten years ago and they are part of the family, living with the couple at Clarence House.