I think Camilla has been a huge influence (for the better).
Encouraged him to be less stuffy and buttoned up, whilst retaining the dignity and gravitas necessary for his Kingship.
I hope they both have many more fruitful years of monarchy together, not least to give William and Catherine time to bring up and enjoy their young family, which both Charles and Anne missed out on with their own parents it seems.
I am a near contemporary and I remember reading ages ago that he was a great fan of The Goons and a friend of Spike Milligan. I also remember reading that he appeared in at least one comic revue while he was at Cambridge.
I do remember at some comedy awards, Spike Milligan was given an award, the award presenter read a message from Charles congratulating Spike who said “grovelling bastard”, much late he said in an interview he wrote to Charles and said “I won’t get a knighthood now, Charles replied “keep grovelling”
I also see he wore a tie with little elephants on it when he attended a function for Camilla’s deceased brother’s charity. I wonder why it’s only now that he is letting his humorous side out.
I wonder if he’s also doing the ‘older man thing’ of wearing colourful socks as well ? I quite like our new king 👑
He was thought of as odd and 'eco' for years, and now many people are seeing the value of what he did - protecting the earth, organic farming and so on.
I started to warm to him when his 'stinking pen' wasn't working, when he had to sign numerous legal documents shortly after his mother died. I could completely empathise with being annoyed with an inanimate object that makes life difficult.
The sense of humour doesn't surprise me, because he was known to be a fan of the Goons when he was younger.
Having met the king (when he was Prince of Wales) I can tell you that he has a quiet impish sense of humour and a natural ability to put people at ease, so it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he chose the tie himself!
I am reminded of a tie that my father has that he wears sometimes when he goes to give talks and things internationally. (My father is a distinguished scientist.) We are from Canada, and this particular tie has Mounties dressed in red serge and riding horses all over it.