Does my macbook pro charge when it is shutdown?

I have just had a family member move to london and i will be doing a lot of travelling to london to visit him, so when i want to go on my mac on my travel down, i will want it to be fully charged when i set off. So i was wondering if my device can be shutdown to charge or does it need to be on the desktop?

i know it may sound like a silly question

thank you