The Prince of Wales has joked that he has become an icon of fashion.
Charles was hosting a reception at St James's Palace to launch a new exhibition of British menswear organised by the British Fashion Council.
The event was attended by fashionistas such as Dame Vivienne Westwood and Tommy Hilfiger, with celebrities Tinie Tempah and David Walliams.
After getting a taste for the clothes and talking one-to-one with the glitterati, the prince addressed them in what he described as an off-the-cuff speech.
"I am finding it very hard, ladies and gentlemen, to live with myself after I discovered that somebody has suggested I might even be an icon of fashion. It has taken 64 bleeding years," he said.
"I am so grateful to those people. I don't know why (they say this), they must be trying to get somewhere. I am very touched.
"I seem to have lurched from being the best dressed man to the worst dressed man - presumably it sells publications.
The exhibition, called London Collections: Men, includes work by designers such as Paul Smith, Margaret Howell and Richard James, heritage brands such as Aquascutum and Savile Row tailors.
Attending the palace to learn about the collection, punk designer Westwood said a great part of her respect for the Royal Family was due to Charles.
"I am a very big fan of the Queen, I think she is marvellous and everybody else is coming round to that opinion," she said.
"She is so important and a quick way of summing that up is to say that if we didn't have her we would be like everybody else.
"But I think a great part of my respect for the royals is based on Prince Charles - he has done much better things for the country than any English politician."
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