King Charles Gives Hugs After All: Monarch Clings to Prince Louis in New Documentary Despite Prince Harry Claiming He Never Embraces
King Charles III shared an affectionate moment with Prince Louis and Prince George in the royal documentary, Charles III: The Coronation Year. During a dress rehearsal before the monarchy's crowning on May 6, His Majesty greets his two grandchildren with a hug and kiss on the cheek. The embrace comes after Prince Harry claimed in Spare that his father was not a fan of hugging.
"The older generation maintained a nearly zero-tolerance prohibition on all physical contact. No hugs, no kisses, no pats. Now and then, maybe a light touching of cheeks — on special occasions. No matter how much you might love someone, you could never cross that chasm between, say, monarch and child. Or Heir and Spare," the Duke of Sussex wrote in his bestselling memoir.
This description was not on display in the clip from the program that charts 75-year-old Charles III's first year as the nation's monarch. He is also seen doing the same with Princess Charlotte and Kate, Princess of Wales, and sharing jokes with his son and heir, Prince William, about the sovereign's "sausage fingers."
The scene begins with the Prince of Wales fitting the Stole Royal robe on his father before stating: "On the day it's not going to go in, is it?"
Charles III replied: "No, [But] you haven't got sausage fingers like mine!"
The King and king-in-waiting then erupt into a fit of laughter. There is another humorous scene between father and son in which William rehearses the moment he must kiss his dad's cheek during the homage. He tickles his father's face before quipping: "Your left cheek is better," to laughter from His Majesty.
"I think what struck me particularly was how extraordinarily affectionate they are. They're clearly a very close family, all the generations. In a sense, you felt you're part of a family occasion as well as a royal occasion and a national occasion," Bishop of Hereford Richard Jackson told an outlet.
In recent years, numerous royal analysts have claimed that this type of sentiment does not seem to extend to Harry and Meghan Markle. But even though invitations have largely stopped recently, the King did regularly invite the Montecito twosome to events earlier this year.
Harry's various tell-all excursions have seemingly destroyed his relationship with many senior members of the royal family, except with His Majesty. The King is believed to be the only major member of the monarchy to remain on speaking terms with Harry and Meghan. But with the duo failing to receive an invitation to attend Christmas at Sandringham recently, it would appear that he is reconsidering this trend.
The Sun reported on the expert opinions.