In 1994, romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland — the mother of Countess Raine Spencer — caused a frisson of media comment when she publicly revealed that her step-granddaughter, Diana, Princess of Wales had once thrown a kettle at Prince Charles.

The reason for the Princess's fit of anger? She discovered her husband didn't know how to make a cup of tea.

Now it would seem there's one man who may have understood the young Princess's frustration: noneother than the late American President Ronald Reagan.

A former executive chef who worked for five Presidents during a quarter of a century at the White House has revealed details of a remarkable incident which occured when the future King made an official visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Writing in his memoirs, All The Presidents' Pastries: Twenty-Five Years In The White House, chef Roland Mesnier recalls the day Prince Charles offered an unintentional insight into his lack of real life experience.

The Prince has made many visits to the White House, his most recent coming in November 2005 when he and his second wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, were hosted by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura.

However, by far his most high-profile trip was twenty years earlier, when Charles and Diana wowed American society with their first joint tour of the country in November 1985.

Sitting with President Reagan in the Oval Office, the royal visitor was asked if he requested a drink. He replied that yes, he would like a cup of tea.

Within moments, an official delivered a cup of hot water and a tea bag to the grateful guest.

A pleasant conversation duly ensued between the heir to the throne and the world's most powerful leader.

However, with the more serious discussions behind them, the President admitted he was intrigued: just why had the royal visitor ordered a cup of tea but proceeded not to touch it, let alone take a sip?

The answer was one which the President could surely have not expected.

Explained the Prince: "I didn't know what to do with the little bag."

Such is the cosssetted life of the man who will be King that Charles had apparently never seen a tea bag in his life.

The fascinating new book also includes some amusing stories about other famous faces who've walked through the doors of the President's official residence, as well as the residents themselves.

According to the author, one of his more demanding bosses was Nancy Reagan.

He recalls the plans for an impending visit by Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands. Mrs Reagan, who enjoyed many years of private correspondence with Prince Charles, was determined that the White House would be immaculate for the visit of the Dutch monarch.

And so it was that the chef was required to work around the clock, the somewhat pedantic First Lady having changed the menu at the eleventh hour.

The problem occurred when Mr Mesnier suggested four desserts for the royal banquet. All were immediately rejected by the President's wife. Instead, she demanded the White House chefs produce some very elaborate sugar baskets incorporating delicate sugar tulips, as well as orange sorbet and petit fours.

As to be expected, the chef was none too happy at this turn of events, saying: "I stared at Mrs. Reagan: 'Madam, there are just two days left and I'm alone in the kitchen'."

A woman who clearly liked to get her own way, Mrs Reagan responded with little or no regard of the workload involved in catering to her every whim, telling the chef: "Roland, you have two days and two nights."

Another famously demanding lady who has made regular visits to the White House is the legendary singer Barbra Streisand. As with Mrs Reagan, she is another longstanding friend and ally of Prince Charles (indeed, it has been alleged that the two enjoyed an affair).

Attending a State Dinner in 1994, Ms Streisand failed to impress White House staff with her rather rude manner.

Accompanied by a sous-chef, Mr Mesnier passed the star as she made her way to the powder room, recalling: "We both greeted her: 'Good evening, Ms. Streisand.' We were completely ignored. Not even so much as a glance. We were merely flunkies, or worse."

The Clintons themselves also failed to impress, at least when it came to their rather unique taste buds.

There was one particular dish which horrified those who toiled away in the White House kitchen: "An atrocious concoction of Cola-Cola-flavored jelly served with black glace cherries. Personally, I could think of nothing more appalling, but I bowed to family tradition."

Roland Mesnier recently left his job at the White House, having loyally served the latest occupants, President George W. Bush and his wife Laura.

The current First Lady is determined to continue the tradition of overseeing the plans to make sure everything is just right for visitors to the White House.

According to the chef, Mrs Bush "loved things set in straight lines and was equally direct in her dealings with people. She hated cluttered tabletops, little vases, and framed photographs scattered all over the place."

Thankfully, she hasn't suffered a similar trauma to that of her mother-in-law, a previous First Lady: Barbara Bush.

During the Presidency of George Bush Snr., his wife — often wearing a mask, snorkel and flippers — liked to start the day with a dip in the private White House pool.

On one particular morning it wasn't quite the relaxing swim she had come to expect. Suddenly, right before her eyes, a rodent swam up close to the horrified First Lady's face.

Cue the President's wife jumping out of the pool and running through the White House, screaming in fear!

The President himself duly saw off the offending pest before returning to his work, although the chef loyally refuses to reveal precise details of the rodent's fate.

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Name: pipsqueak	Comment: "I have no doubt the tea bag was "foreign" to Charles; Brits don't use them. They have loose leaves and tea balls". No. We have tea bags. Lots and lots of tea bags. Soooooooooo many teabags. On average about 120 million a year.

Name: Henri M.	Comment: It is all okay by me M-M if you want to take this all serious. Apparently his Spartan upbringing at Gordonstoun, his period with the Boy Scouts and his military service with the Armed Forces haven't teached him to make his own cup of tea. If you are willing to believe this story, it is all okay by me.

Name: M-M

Comment: Henri there are too many witnesses to Charles' finicky habits and Edwardian love of opulance to paint him as modern military man . He much prefers order and deferrance , his place setting just so , and his eggs done just as he likes them no matter how many are discarded. Even when he visits Mt Athos way up on its craig many many pieces of luggage are hoisted up containing his own food and linens , his own toilet seat , not to mention his own servants accompanying him . He may like organic but it doesn't make him either modern or simple

Name: Donovan	Comment: Let's just whisk him back to 1890, shall we? It seems he much prefers that time frame

Name: Donovan	Comment: Let's just whisk him back to 1890, shall we? It seems he much prefers that time frame

Name: Henri M.

Comment: Too easy. With my own eyes I have witnessed BBC-documentaries with a certain licensed fighter pilot who has experienced survival missions in the arctic (with the Marines' Corps). That militair made a delicious meal with a gasburner. Guess three times who that guy was? We may ask ourselves the question: who is more out of touch with reality? The Prince of Wales or the author who tries to equal the storyteller Hans Christian Andersen? Even Prince Charles' living plague, Diana's butler Paul Burrel, writes in his books that the Prince makes his own tea and toasts. This is the same category as the 'six boiled eggs a day'-story: utter rubbish.

Name: Carol B.	Comment: The POW is so far out of touch with reality that this doesn't surprise me at all. Same goes for Nancy Reagan.

Name: shelley	Comment: Tea bags have been around in Britain as long as sliced bread has. Since Charles lives in a very insular little world I can see him being shocked by just about anything invented since Edward VII's time. Tea bags, sliced bread, credit cards, frozen food, an iron......you name it.

Name: Judith	Comment: Perhaps he just wasn't sure where to put it if he took it out. I've been caught in that situation and had to perch it precariously on the side of my saucer, dangling dangerously too near to the hand-made lace tablecloth on my hostesses table!

Name: Laura	Comment: I am not sure how old the teabag is! But I know that a majority of people use them for convenience! Tea is still sold loose but teabags are bigger sellers.

Name: Jean Sue Libkind	Comment: Laura, aren't tea bags a somewhat modern convenience? I remember in 1965 being told that we ex-colonies were silly to bag our tea.

Name: Lia	Comment: I find it hard to believe the White House Kitchen wouldn't have looked into the proper making and serving of tea! While I might expect a quick bag at a friend's, when I'm serving tea to a guest, even if it's made from a bag, it goes into a teapot and the pot is served along with sugar, cream and lemon (if I don't know the drinker's preference).

Name: M-M	Comment: For perhaps the first time I can relate to something Charles has done . A stuffy sister-in-law of mine once asked in accents of repulsion 'What's THAT ?' The object of her enquiry ? A tea bag . They just don't figure in some peoples' lives (or that is what they would like us to think )

Name: Laura	Comment: Jean, us Brits do use teabags! They are the biggest selling tea products!

Name: Jean Sue Libkind	Comment: I have no doubt the tea bag was "foreign" to Charles; Brits don't use them. They have loose leaves and tea balls. It is the equivalent of grinding your own coffee beans for flavor.

Name: pipsqueak	Comment: Funny old world.

Name: Kate	Comment: He didn't know what to do with the little bag!!? Doesn't surpise me at all! I might try to put the Clinton's fab dessert together for the grandchildren... Would have given anything to see B.Bush running down the hall way with flippers and all on!!! Now that would have been a hoot!Fun article Joanne... Thanks

Name: Ken	Comment: In defense of the Clintons, the combination of Coca-Cola, black cherry gelatin, and black cherries is a well-known traditional southern concoction... comfort food.

Name: Trudie	Comment: What an amusing story about Charles but totally believable!!!. This is the same man who has his toothpaste put on to his toothbrush and had an aid hold his cup for a urine sample.