The presents, which friends describe as a 'labour of love', include a pair of walking boots, a personalised fly fishing rod and his favourite episodes of The Goon Show.
They will be presented to Charles over his birthday weekend next month.
So far, the celebrations include a lavish State banquet at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen and arranged by Charles's former aide, events organiser Michael Fawcett.The following night, there will be a party for 75 of Charles's closest friends at Highgrove, the Prince's Gloucestershire residence, which will include a five-course dinner followed by dancing.
According to one source who has helped Camilla gather the presents, the idea has taken months to come to fruition and the Duchess of Cornwall is still tracking down a few final items.
'Camilla was at a loss over what to buy for Charles - he is the man with everything. In the end, she decided that she would abandon the idea of buying one huge gift and instead present him with a number of smaller gifts,' a friend said.
'It was as she was sourcing some of his favourite wines and literature that she seized on the idea of presenting him with a gift for every year of his life.
'She has spent months getting all the things together and every item will mean something special to Charles.
'She is also collating a special book, which many of Charles's friends have contributed to, and will present it to him at Highgrove.'
Among the 60 presents that Camilla will give Charles are two rosebushes for his beloved garden at Highgrove bearing Charles's favourite blooms: the Margaret Merrill and the Frederic Mistral, which is so perfectly formed that the flower resembles porcelain.
Camilla, who has overseen plans for the more intimate second birthday party, has also sourced a page from The Times on Charles's date of birth, November 14, 1948.
She has had it framed along with pictures of their wedding, and a collection in antique silver of photographs of Princes William and Harry as children.
A keen chess player, the Duchess has also commissioned a Gloucestershire craftsman to carve a wooden chess set for Charles.
'Camilla has spent weeks getting everything together.
'This hasn't been about expense, it's been about making sure she gets a memory or special token for every year of Charles's life,' the friend added.
'The presents are poignantly all about Charles as a man rather than a Royal and everything Camilla has sourced has a real connection to Charles.'
Camilla, 61, had a drinks specialist in St James's Street, London, seek out a number of bottles for Charles to share with friends including a 1948 Glen Grant vintage whisky, a bottle of Armagnac from the same year and a case of Malvasia, one of the
Prince's favourite organic Madeira wines. She has also had two cases of his favourite Argentinian wine from the Mendosa vineyards flown over.
'Camilla has really taken a lot of time getting everything together --Charles will be very touched,' added the source.
'She has reproduced manuscripts f some of his favourite sonnets and extracts from his favourite Shakespeare plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo And Juliet.
'Probably the most romantic thing she has done is had some of their love letters from over the years bound in a special leather book.'
William and Harry, who have been instrumental in planning Charles's birthday party at Highgrove with Camilla, are also understood to have helped their stepmother with her choice of presents.
It is, of course, unlikely that Charles will wish to part with any of the sentimental presents. In the past, there has been controversy over the fact that Michael Fawcett made a business selling unwanted Royal gifts.
The revelations led to him resigning and being nicknamed Fawcett the Fence.
Last night, a spokesman at Clarence House declined to comment and said: 'The Prince's birthday is a private matter.'
0 comments:
Post a Comment