King Charles 'sleeps in oxygen tent' to combat troublesome ailment, book claims

15 February 2024 , 06:00

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King Charles pictured last month (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

King Charles sleeps in an oxygen tent in order to combat a troublesome ailment that's plagued him, a new book has claimed.

My Mother and I by renowned royal biographer Ingrid Seward has been released today - and it sheds light on the complex relationship between the late Queen with her eldest son, Charles. The book charts how the current monarch was largely looked after by nannies as his mother attended to her duties as sovereign. It also examines how mother and son had very different upbringings and claims that the late Queen was left perplexed by her son's lifestyle due to the fact he had always grown up as heir to the throne - and knew one day he would be King.

And according to Ingrid, Charles' upbringing led to his sometimes unusual approach to life. She writes in her new book: "The Queen never understood Charles' pampered lifestyle and found it rather mystifying, as by nature Charles is not a selfish man, but a life of being deferred to often stopped him considering others. He has no sympathy for trivial ailments and combats his own sinus problems by sleeping in an oxygen tent. Tiredness or oversleeping are not acceptable excuses for missing even an hour's work and he will never have a lie-in on a Sunday morning, even if he is feeling unwell."

King Charles with his late mother Elizabeth II (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the book, there are revelations and bombshells not only about the former monarch and her eldest son who is now sovereign, but also about the likes of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and even Princess Diana.

One of the most bombshell claims in the book is that the late Prince Philip had a coded nickname for Meghan Markle - 'DoW' - because she reminded him so much of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor. Prince Harry and American actress Meghan met back in 2016, with the couple getting engaged in 2017 before their televised royal wedding took place on May 19, 2018. But Meghan's marriage to Harry wasn't her first, with her already having been wed once before.

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And the book claims that because Meghan is American and a divorcee, Philip thought it was "uncanny" how much she reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, who married Edward VIII and supported him abdicating as King. Edward VIII was the late Queen's uncle, who famously abdicated in 1936 to marry the American divorcee. This then meant that the Queen's father, George VI, succeeded the throne, with a young Elizabeth next in line.

Examining the late Queen's character, Ingrid writes she was the "master of understatement delivered in the best deadpan voice". Lady Elizabeth Anson reveals as well as referring to Meghan's wedding dress as two white, she described Harry's feelings towards his wife in a similar fashion.

The book says: "'Too in love' was her [Queen's] response to Prince Harry being under his future wife's spell." And elsewhere in the book, Ingrid writes how Charles never enjoyed his mother "taking part in things he considered undignified" - but even he was charmed by her Platinum Jubilee sketch with Paddington.

However, she adds that when the Queen was snapped for her dresser Angela Kelly's book The Other Side posing like a model, her oldest son was left 'irritated'. She writes: "It was enough to incur Charles' wrath - he felt it was thoroughly inappropriate, however good the photographs may have been. He was protective about his mother and thoroughly disliked what he considered was taking advantage of her good nature."

Jennifer Newton