If a certain New Zealand chanteuse is allowed to have a hit named "Royals," then a British performer is more than fit to proclaim himself a king. Especially when he’s as charismatic as King Charles. The British folk artist is following up his 2012 debut record LoveBlood with an even folkier and more romantic record Gamble For A Rose and we scored a chit-chat with the mustache-rocking musician to discover 10 things that simply make him royal, lfrom his work with Mumford & Sons to his dream Beyoncé collaboration.

He's a Brit With a Knack For Rockstars and American Folk

King Charles (real name Charles Costa) is inspired by all kinds of rockers. “The music that first inspired me was folk music and rock’n’roll," he explains. "I was excited by the rock performers like David Bowie and Freddy Mercury. I’ve always enjoyed the energy of these performers. I had a lot of different influences and that’s everything that I wanted to put into my music.” Then there are some American poets that captured his attention. “What excited me about the American folk genre was that it wasn’t about glam or extravaganza. It was about songwriting and about trying to muddle through life’s complications and mysteries. And that’s what drew me to the likes of Bob Dylan. He was talking about things that you usually can’t really put words to. I’m interested in pursuing these ideas in my music, too.”

He Lives in London, But You Can See Him All Over the World

“I want to move to a new place someday, but right now I want to see more places," he admits. "I just want this new album to get me on the road and keep me on the road, so I can go as far and wide around the world as possible and maybe I’ll move to a new country when I’m older. But I just wanna keep moving.”

He Can't Remember Any Wild Stories From the Road

“There was a little bit of debauchery, a little bit of drama,” he says regarding his three-year-long tour, “but the funny thing about these stories is that I usually blackout for the tour and can’t remember anything when I get back. So it’s hard to remember the tour tales.” Clever move.

His Favorite King Charles Was Charles II

“He was a pretty cool king. He was very extravagant, brought some color, life and beauty back to England after Oliver Cromwell.” Did he rock mustache as well? “Yes, he did." Go figure.

His Kingdom is His Stage

When asked about the most king-like thing he’s done so far, King Charles has to think a little. “What do kings do best?...Kings rule. And I don’t really have my territory. I guess the stages that I play is my kingdom. I address my audience from there.”

Marcus Mumford Produced His New Record

King Charles has been friends with Mumford & Sons for quite some time now, and they’ve been touring together a lot. But for the production of Gamble For A Rose, Charles secured some serious studio time with Marcus. “I felt like I slightly drifted away from everything that originally inspired me when I was making my first record. So with the second album, I wanted to go back to these inspirations and stay true to that. My two albums sound quite different. Now I’m much more concerned about how my music sounds rather than the songs themselves.” Should we expect King Charles to work on Mumford & Sons music now? “You never know what’s going to happen, but I don’t think so.”

He Plans To Re-Record "Coco Chitty" For Each Album

There’s no surprise "Coco Chitty" from his debut album was updated for Gamble For A Rose. “It’s a special song for me and I wanted to re-record it ‘cause I wanted to see how it sits next to these new songs. And I have an idea that I want to keep re-recording it again and again for each album and see what different characters it can develop,” Charles divulges. And considering he dreams of collaborating with Beyoncé someday, maybe by album number five he’ll pop out "Coco Chitty" ft. Beyoncé? 

The Dreadlocks Are Gone...

His massive dreadlocks were part of the official King Charles look back when he was promoting the debut album. But the cover of his new record sees a more normal (yet pretty messy) haircut. Is there a big story behind the dreadlocks’ demise? Apparently, not really. “It was time for a change. I had fun being that character and wanted to become a new character now.” So it’s not because the dreadlocks are such a pain to take care of? “Haha, no!”

But The Mustache is Still There!

…although it had to be tweaked, too. Is there a deep meaning behind his trademark mustache? “It’s not important to me at all. I don’t really care about my mustache. I just like having it.” Well, okay, then!

King Charles Can't Imagine a World Without Music

“There’s music in everything. There’s music in vibrations. So you can’t have a world without music. And I don’t really want to think about what a world without music would be like. It’d be too dark—the sun would never come up,” he cringes.