King Charles praised for rewearing 40-year-old coat at Sandringham on New Year’s Day

‘We love a sustainable king’ said TikTok user Jessica Weslie Arena of the King

King Charles III has been praised for sustainability after he rewore a tweed coat that’s nearly four decades old.

The 74-year-old British monarch and his wife Camilla, Queen Consort, attended a Sunday service at St Mary Magdalene Church on his Sandringham estate in Norfolk on New Year’s Day.

King Charles was photographed visiting the church sporting a longline tweed double-breasted overcoat over a blue suit and brown leather shoes. While the tweed jacket seemed like any other classic coat worn by the royal, eagle-eyed fans quickly noticed that King Charles has consistently worn the tweed overcoat since the 1980s.

TikTok user Jessica Weslie Arena went viral this week when she dubbed King Charles a “sustainable king” for re-wearing the old coat.

“King Charles attended a church service for New Years today, and I just want to talk about his coat that he is wearing,” she said in the video, which has more than 129k views. “This coat that he is wearing he’s had it since like the 1980s. King Charles is king but he is not wearing new items all the time. He has had this coat for about 40 years. We love a sustainable king.”

One of the first times the former Prince of Wales was pictured wearing the Anderson and Sheppard tweed coat was in 1986 with Princess Diana and a baby Prince Harry at a photocall in Sandringham. In 1996, Charles was seen sporting the same overcoat from the Savile Row retailer during a winter skiing holiday in Zurich. Two years later, Prince Charles wore the tweed coat to the royal family’s annual Christmas services at Sandringham, and twice more in 1999.

Many TikTok users also applauded the monarch for rewearing the tweed coat, with one person commenting: “I really respect and admire this about him. He has a long history of being ahead of his time in regards to the environment.”

“We stan sustainability,” said someone else.

King Charles III with young Prince Harry at St Mary Magdalene Church on Sandringham estate, in 2004 (AFP via Getty Images)

This isn’t the only overcoat that King Charles has been known to recycle – he often alternates between the tweed number and a camel-coloured overcoat. While the camel overcoat may not be four decades old, King Charles was first seen wearing the jacket in the early 2000s.

King Charles has been known for rewearing or recycling clothes instead of buying new items due to his dedication towards sustainable fashion. In a 2020 interview with British Vogue with editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, Charles advocated against the “extraordinary trend of throw-away clothing” in fashion.

King Charles with Camilla, Queen Consort, leaving Sandringham Church on Christmas Day in 2009 (AFP via Getty Images)

He admitted that he prefers to get shoes “or any item of clothing” repaired when faulty or worn, rather than throwing it away.

“When I was a child, we used to take our shoes down to the cobbler in Scotland and would watch with fascination as he ripped the soles off and then put new soles on,” he recalled.

Charles and Camilla at Sandringham Church in 2005 (Getty Images)

The king added that he believed there were “huge opportunities” for people to set up businesses involved with “repair, maintenance and reuse”, and revealed how he has tried to start a “thrift market” at his educational centre, Dumfries House, where things could be brought to be mended.

Charles also said that consumers have “immense power” in their purchases and that “the best companies will lead the way, we hope, in demonstrating that if you follow the right principles of operation, not only are you moving more and more towards net zero but also you’re removing pollution from supply chains.”