Britain's Viscount Linley was always taught to "credit, not debit".
The royal - the son of Britain's late Princess Margaret and her former husband Lord Snowdon - admits he is a self-made man despite his aunt being the current queen, but he admits saving can be hard for him.
He said: "My father sat me down once, when I was old enough to have a bank account, and he said that there is just one rule in life. Always credit, never debit. I am not a natural saver, which is a shame, because that would be useful.
"Handy for school fees. And as one gets older, one does slightly think, 'If I got run over by a bus, what would the children do? What would my wife do?' "
The viscount also revealed his thrifty parents shunned expensive repair work for their home within Kensington Palace in favour of doing renovations themselves.
He told Tatler magazine: "My father redesigned the place so that it would work for a modern family. You couldn't get a better house to play with. A bit of Kent, a bit of Hawksmoore, a bit of Wren. It was a good brief from my father, which was, 'As someone who doesn't like spending money, how do you create the illusion of a palace?'
"He undermined the Ministry of Works at every turn, used carpenters he knew and made things himself. He got my mum to veneer all the doors."
The royal - the son of Britain's late Princess Margaret and her former husband Lord Snowdon - admits he is a self-made man despite his aunt being the current queen, but he admits saving can be hard for him.
He said: "My father sat me down once, when I was old enough to have a bank account, and he said that there is just one rule in life. Always credit, never debit. I am not a natural saver, which is a shame, because that would be useful.
"Handy for school fees. And as one gets older, one does slightly think, 'If I got run over by a bus, what would the children do? What would my wife do?' "
The viscount also revealed his thrifty parents shunned expensive repair work for their home within Kensington Palace in favour of doing renovations themselves.
He told Tatler magazine: "My father redesigned the place so that it would work for a modern family. You couldn't get a better house to play with. A bit of Kent, a bit of Hawksmoore, a bit of Wren. It was a good brief from my father, which was, 'As someone who doesn't like spending money, how do you create the illusion of a palace?'
"He undermined the Ministry of Works at every turn, used carpenters he knew and made things himself. He got my mum to veneer all the doors."
