Thrifty King Charles has been wearing the same coat for 40 years
King Charles III might not be the first member of the Royal Family to come to mind when you think of fashion inspiration, but the monarch is the Firm’s stalwart of sustainability and there is no better example of that than his 40-year-old brown tweed coat.
The 74-year-old king has centred a lot of his public work around environmental causes during his time as the Prince of Wales, and it seems the impact of sustainable practices have permeated his wardrobe choices, too.
King Charles stepped out on New Year’s Day in a warm wool coat in a tweed texture to attend a church service at Sandringham with his wife, Queen Camilla.
The thick wool coat seemed like any other smart coat for a church service in the middle of winter, complete with double-breasted buttons, neat lapels and in an oversized style, but it didn’t take long for eagle-eyed fans to point out that it was one of King Charles’ wardrobe staples, and he’s been reaching for the tweed style for over 40 years.
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Images of the king wearing the coat go back as far as 1988, when he wore the wool number to the same place at Sandringham, then with his parents, the late Queen Elizabeth and late Duke of Edinburgh.
In the years since, the then prince was spotted wearing the clearly durable coat on several occasions due to its practical, yet smart qualities, opting for the warm wool number for several other church visits including Christmas Day in 1994, when his brother Edward wore a nearly identical coat.
The former Queen's eldest son has long been an advocate for sustainability, campaigning for several environmental causes throughout his public life.
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As such he’s made several eco-conscious swaps in his life, to help reduce his own personal impact on the environment, including rewearing items of clothing time and time again.
The king revealed in an interview with the BBC that he had made changes to his diet as he discussed his own efforts to reduce his carbon footprint.
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“I haven't eaten meat and fish on two days a week and I don't eat dairy products on one day a week. If more did that, you would reduce a lot of the pressure,” he explained.
The monarch even sought out a more sustainable fuel source for his beloved Aston Martin in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint, and asked the luxury car makers to make the change himself. However, engineers were convinced the car would be "ruined" with a bioethanol fuel.
The king has also been rewearing another of his favourite coats for several decades. A camel wool double-breasted coat in a similar style comes out time and time again for public appearances, proving once again the “buy well buy once” sustainability mantra.
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