Claims that the Prince of Wales is so fussy about his soft boiled eggs that his staff cook several for him have been denied by Clarence House.
Paxman said the story came from one of Prince Charles' friends
In a new book, Jeremy Paxman claims the prince's staff serve a number of eggs to ensure one is cooked to perfection.
"If the Prince felt that number five was too runny, he could knock the top off number six or seven," Paxman writes in On Royalty, quoted in the Guardian.
A spokeswoman for Clarence House said the claim was "totally untrue".
Journalist Paxman claims his source for the "extraordinary" story is "one of the prince's friends".
Paxman himself says in the book - which he partly researched by staying at royal residence Sandringham - that there would inevitably be doubts over the egg claims.
"Although it came from one of the prince's friends, it seems so preposterously extravagant as to be unbelievable.
"And yet so many jaw-dropping stories have emerged of the way in which his household is run that it can sound credible," he writes.