Even the royal family isn’t immune to a bathroom disaster.
Queen Camilla’s luxurious Caribbean stay reportedly came dangerously close to an embarrassing mishap after a toilet mix-up sparked a last-minute scramble to prepare her accommodations for a visit with King Charles.
The 79-year-old Queen and her 77-year-old husband were staying in Antigua as part of their official Caribbean tour when an unusual problem reportedly emerged at a luxury cottage in Hodges Bay.
According to RadarOnline, which cited unnamed insiders, the property had undergone renovations ahead of the royal visit, with expensive bathroom fixtures shipped in from Italy. But preparations allegedly took an unexpected turn when the wrong toilet arrived, leaving those responsible for the accommodations racing to secure a replacement.
The problem was reportedly resolved before the royal couple’s stay, avoiding the possibility of having to move them to alternative accommodations.
Neither Buckingham Palace nor the property’s management has publicly confirmed the account, and there is no indication that Charles or Camilla personally encountered the plumbing problem.
Still, the bizarre incident has revived one of the most amusing rumors surrounding the King’s famously particular travel habits.
For years, royal watchers have heard claims that Charles insists on traveling with his own toilet seat, orthopedic bed, special linens and even paintings of the Scottish Highlands.
Those allegations gained widespread attention in 2018 following the publication of royal biographer Tom Bower’s book, Rebel Prince, which described the extraordinary preparations allegedly made whenever Charles traveled.
But the King, then Prince of Wales, had little patience for the story when an Australian radio presenter confronted him about the supposed toilet-seat requirement during a visit to Brisbane.
“My own what?” Charles responded before dismissing the claim with a laugh.
“Oh, don’t believe all that crap,” he said.
Former royal butler Grant Harrold has also disputed the rumor, insisting Charles does not travel with a personal toilet seat.
The alleged bathroom blunder wasn’t the only unexpected inconvenience surrounding the royal couple’s Caribbean visit.
Charles found himself soaked during Antigua and Barbuda’s independence celebrations on November 1 when a sudden tropical downpour caught him without an umbrella. Camilla was escorted to shelter under an umbrella while the King repeatedly called for assistance as rain drenched his light-colored suit.
He later laughed off the incident, joking that he had started growing watercress on his trousers.
Actor Idris Elba even sympathized with Charles about the rain when the pair unexpectedly crossed paths at Nelson’s Dockyard.
The lighthearted mishaps came during a much more serious royal visit, with Charles attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting as Caribbean leaders renewed demands for Britain to confront its historical role in slavery.
Although the reported toilet mix-up appears to have been resolved before it caused any significant disruption, it offers a humorous reminder that even the most carefully planned royal accommodations can run into ordinary household problems.
And for a monarch who has spent years denying rumors about traveling with his own toilet seat, the timing could hardly have been more ironic.
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