King Charles has reportedly revealed one of his biggest regrets, which is that he has never been on a holiday to Butlin's. The monarch, who turned 78 on Saturday, asked the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip many times whether he and his sister Princess Anne could go to the British holiday resort as children, but he was always told: "I don't quite think we will be able to manage that." A friend of the King told The Sunday Times that he often tells the story when listing things he has not done, and laughs at how disappointed he was that he and Anne never managed it.

The royals instead holidayed at their residences at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. There are currently three Butlin's resorts in the UK, located in Minehead in Somerset, Bognor Regis in West Sussex and Skegness in Lincolnshire. The company, which is celebrating its landmark 90th year, has offered to help the King fulfil his childhood wish, with a spokesperson saying they would be delighted to invite the King and his family to visit one of its resorts, noting that his late mother visited Butlin's in 1963.S1S2

The royal family has some existing links to the chain. The Queen and Prince Philip visited the Butlin's camp in Pwllheli, Wales, in 1963 without any of their children. Prince Philip had been billeted at the camp during the Second World War, when it was taken over by the Navy and renamed HMS Glendower. Prince Edward visited the Skegness resort in the 1990s, and Princess Anne visited the Minehead resort in 2012 to attend a Carers' Respite Day. In 2018, Prince Harry joked about taking Meghan to the Bognor Regis camp after mistaking it for a circus, and the chain said it would love to welcome them to a resort.S2

The King has two birthday celebrations each year: his actual birthday on November 14 and his official birthday, marked in June with the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony in central London. That tradition dates back to 1748 and has been held every year since the reign of King George III.S1