Former Royal Chef Shares Why King Charles’s Title of “The Mad Prince” Should Be “Taken Back”

King Charles has been a supporter of environmental causes and organic farming long before it was popular. In 1970, he gave a speech talking about the damage things like single-use plastics have on the environment—subjects few were discussing at the time—but the reception from the public and the media wasn’t what he’d hoped for, with many calling him “mad” to worry about such topics. But The King’s former head chef, Visen Anenden, recently shared that Charles has been vindicated in today’s age and was “way ahead of the curve” with his views on food.

Speaking on behalf of Heart Bingo Online, Anenden says that when he worked for His Majesty, it was “like an encyclopedia of learning about seasonality, vegetables, and organic meats.”

“Everything is made in-house,” he adds. “What King Charles preaches, he does. We would get everything from the Duchy Estate. So, when it comes to milk, it would come from the cows, and we would pasteurize it for things like double cream. It’s extremely self-sufficient. We would make our own breads, cakes, and juices—everything.”

Anenden says there “was a huge learning curve” when he started working for The King in the early 2000s because the restaurant industry wasn’t focused on sustainable, organic food like today.

“From a chef’s perspective, when you come from restaurants, at the time I was learning, there was no such thing as heritage produce, seasonality, or ethical sourcing, nothing about that when I was starting out,” he says.

Since King Charles eats seasonally, Anenden had to focus on creating recipes that were right in season using ingredients pulled from the Highgrove gardens, the Balmoral estate, or wherever they were traveling.

“Charles was way ahead of the curve,” Anenden adds. “They called him the Mad Prince, but that can be taken back. He was always about sustainability and sourcing more British produce. That was one thing throughout his entire time—sourcing British produce.”