The King of Boo-Boos: From leaky pen to ‘tampongate’, Charles' many gaffes

As Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on 19 September approaches and King Charles III takes the reins, all eyes are on the royal family.

With the new monarch’s every move under close scrutiny, his recent gaffes have brought to mind unfortunate instances when he was Prince of Wales.

Let’s look at his latest and past awkward moments:

Charles and pens

A leaky pen evoked an irritable response from King Charles III, which was caught on camera and has now gone viral.

Earlier this week, when signing a visitors’ book at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland, he appeared confused about the date.

“Is it 12 September?” King Charles III asks out loud, to which an aide replies, it was the 13th.

“Oh God, I’ve put the wrong date down,” the king mused.

His wife Camilla, the Queen Consort Camilla, then reminded him he signed the wrong date before as well.

Which is when  Charles noticed the fault pen.

“Oh God, I hate this [pen]! I can’t bear this bloody thing, what they do, every stinking time,” he can be heard in a video.

“I can’t bear this bloody thing!”: King Charles’ signing ceremony at Northern Ireland’s Hillsborough Castle made one thing clear – even royalty can’t escape the frustration of an inadequate pen. pic.twitter.com/nzygNTLslX

— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 13, 2022

In another clip that surfaced earlier, King Charles III was seen furiously motioning toward his royal aides to remove the ink tray and pens from the table when he had to sign the Accession Proclamation.

Charles covers up breaking wind at his accession by wafting and blaming the pen tray and ink for the eh, pen and ink. pic.twitter.com/ZfW3cNPMIN

— DimEagleBuckie  (@BuckieDim) September 10, 2022

‘Tampongate’ raises eyebrows

In the late 1990s, the royal family was embroiled in a scandal after Charles’ conversation with Camilla Parker Bowles — made at a time when they were both married to other people — hit the British tabloids.

Charles and Princess Diana separated in 1992 and divorced four years later.

The transcript of the call, published in the British media, showed Charles telling Camilla about wanting to “live inside” her “trousers”.

Putin and Hitler controversy

In 2014, Charles had left his London staff in a lurch after his off-the-cuff remarks to a Jewish museum volunteer in Halifax, Nova Scotia went public.

Charles had allegedly compared Russian president Vladimir Putin to German dictator Adolf Hitler.

Marienne Ferguson, a staff at Museum of Immigration in Halifax, had relayed her story to Charles of how she fled to Canada with her family shortly before the Nazis took over Gdansk in 1939.

As per The Guardian, after her meeting with Charles, she reportedly said, “The prince said: ‘And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler.'”

‘Sooty’ row

Charles was accused of racism in 2009 after British media reports emerged that he, his second wife Camilla Parker Bowles and elder son William have nicknamed a wealthy Indian property developer and polo friend Kolin Dhillon ‘Sooty’.

The Britain’s royal household vehemently denied the charge and said: “We are not going to comment about a nickname which allegedly is used in a particular club.”

“The Prince of Wales has a very strong view on racial intolerance. No one has been more of an advocate for the understanding and tolerance of various religious and ethnic groups and his record speaks volumes on this issue,” Clarence House said in a statement.

Dhillon had also come to the defence of the royals, saying, “I have to say that you know you have arrived when you acquire a nickname. I enjoy being called Sooty by my friends, who I am sure universally use the name as a term of affection with no offence meant or felt.”

Charles’ Great Chinese Takeaway

Another diplomatic gaffe of Charles was a 3,000-word handwritten document titled ‘The Great Chinese Takeaway’.

The document was purportedly written by Charles on a plane after witnessing the 1997 Hong Kong handover.

He reportedly called China’s ageing leaders “appalling old waxworks”.

These documents became public in 2006 which show him criticising the “ridiculous rigmarole” and “awful Soviet-style display” of goose-stepping Chinese soldiers.

“At the end of this awful Soviet-style display we had to watch the Chinese soldiers goose-step on to the stage and haul down the Union Jack and raise the ultimate flag,” Daily Star cited the document as saying.

These words became public fodder just days after then-Chinese president Hu Jintao’s state visit to Britain.

Banning McDonald’s

While visiting a diabetes center in the United Arab Emirates in 2007, Charles rallied behind “banning McDonald’s”.

“Have you got anywhere with McDonald’s, have you tried getting it banned? That’s the key,” he said while visiting Imperial College London diabetes center in Abu Dhabi.

The remark irked McDonald’s, which called it “disappointing”.

Indicating that other royals had visited the fast-food chain, the company said they had a more “up-to-date picture” of the company.

Hot mic blunder

In 2005, Charles was caught making a snide remark about BBC‘s royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell during a skiing holiday in the Swiss alps with his family.

Charles, William and Harry had agreed to a call with the journalist.

As per Sputnik International, the correspondent asked him for a comment on his upcoming wedding with Camilla, to which the royal responded mockingly “I’m very glad you’ve heard of it, anyway,”

Apparently unaware that his microphone was picking up his words, Charles reportedly muttered to his sons: “Bloody people. I can’t bear that man. He’s so awful. He really is.”

With inputs from agencies

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