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King Charles's former gardener has revealed that the famously green-fingered King takes a keen interest in the fruits and vegetables grown in his garden - but there are certain vegetables he has banned because he dislikes their taste. David Pearce worked for the King in his kitchen garden, carefully cultivating plants for him to eat, but he revealed that the King had banned two vegetables.

He explained: "He particularly liked spinach. We grew onions,leeksand Florence fennel. It was mostly working with him and his individual preferences. But squash was off the cards, and absolutely no courgettes."

The King's rules were carrotes grown to an exact size and the banning of squash and courgettes.

David, a curator of Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, said: "I spent about a year working for His Royal Highness in the kitchen garden, growing fruit and vegetables and wonderful things that went into his dinners and lunches."

King Charles also had a set of gardening rules he liked his staff to abide by in a tightly controlled Highgrove Garden, including growing a whole bed of salad and a lot of asparagus.

The gardener explained: "We were growing mostly things he requested himself - a whole bed of salad and two whole beds of asparagus, he was very keen on that."

The King also likes his carrots to be a certain size. David explained: "Things like cauliflower, and he particularly liked his crudité carrots - we would have to grow them to a particular size, of your little finger."

After graduating during the pandemic, David found a job at Highgrove, the private residence of Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla, near Tetbury in Gloucestershire.

David says the then Prince of Wales was not always on site, but when he was there, he insisted on a morning walk around the garden.

He added: "We would have the opportunity to walk around with him. He would tell us what particular things he wanted, when he wanted them."