Tidbits: Not In Front of the Corgis

CHURCH OF THE WHOLLY LIVING PIETIES
BIG FRAME: HIGH-TECH LYNCHING OF HERMAN CAIN AUTHOR BRIAN HOEY has written a book on the royal family due out next summer to whet our never-ending fascination with all things British monarchy. Meanwhile, Tom Sykes @ The Daily Beast pilfers an advance copy and offers some of the high/low points of its daily life. No wonder Kate and William love living off the coast of Wales, doing their own shopping, cooking and cleaning! Ah, the joys of privacy! Below are two excerpts:

PRINCE CHARLES IS A CLOTHESHORSE WHO GETS HIS SHOELACES IRONED

Prince Charles employs 133 staff to look after him and Camilla, more than 60 of them domestics: chefs, cooks, footmen, housemaids, gardeners, chauffeurs, cleaners, and his three personal valets—gentleman’s gentlemen—whose sole responsibility is the care of their royal master’s extensive wardrobe and choosing what he is to wear on any particular day. A serving soldier polishes the prince’s boots and shoes every day—he has 50 handmade pairs each costing over £800 by Lobb of St James’s—and a housemaid washes his underwear as soon as it is discarded. Nothing Charles or Camilla wears is ever allowed near a washing machine. Particular attention is paid to handkerchiefs, which are monogrammed and again all hand-washed, as it was found that when they were sent to a laundry, some would go missing—as souvenirs. HRH’s suits, of which he has 60, cost more than £3,000 each, and his shirts, all handmade, cost £350 a time (he has more than 200), while his collar stiffeners are solid gold or silver. Charles’s valets also iron the laces of his shoes whenever they are taken off.

THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD KNEW OBAMA'S PREFERRED TOILET PAPER

When President Obama arrived for a state visit in May 2011 with his wife, Michelle, he was astounded at the attention to detail that accompanied their two-day stay. The palace officials had even found out what sort of toilet paper the Obamas preferred in their bathroom (thickness, consistency, and color), their favorite flowers, and whether they liked sheets and blankets (wool or cotton) or duvets on their beds.