The Prince's eggs

Jeremy Paxman, in his book On Royalty, repeated a story he had been told by "one of the prince's friends" about the boiled egg that Charles enjoys after a day's hunting: it is alleged that seven of them are cooked for different times so that he can select the one that has exactly the desired degree of hardness.

Paxman describes this as so preposterously extravagant as to be unbelievable, but does not dismiss it out of hand, saying that it can sound credible because so many jaw-dropping stories have emerged about the way the prince's household is run.

Whether it is true or not, this suggestion hurt Charles so much that he found it necessary to have a denial published on his official website, though whoever wrote this obviously hadn't read the book because the allegation is quoted as referring to a breakfast egg, and even the eccentric Charles can hardly have a day's hunting before breakfast.