Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think publishing the video of King Charles getting annoyed when signing a visitors book today is very unkind?

489 replies

PipinwasAuntieMabelsdog · 13/09/2022 20:51

He has lost both parents in a short time frame, had a disagreement with his own son and taken on a very stressful job at the height of grief. AIBU to think this should not have been made public? Most people would lose their temper at a time like that in their own lives. Why publish this?

OP posts:
Dinoteeth · 14/09/2022 16:11

He may well have thought it was off camera someone ushered him out the room.

He must be completely worn out. Here there and everywhere. Dealing with the new job and his DMum still isn't buried yet.
I can see the frustration at the pen, and I think it's his pen, he's under tons of eyes, wearing a white shirt the last thing he wants is ink all over it.

HMQ always looked calm but we never saw her do all this stuff because it wasn't filmed. And maybe when it's Williams turn they won't allow so many cameras. And maybe a less grueling schedule.

Somethingsnappy · 14/09/2022 17:00

antelopevalley · 14/09/2022 11:47

It is the second time in days he has got annoyed over something minor. He does not have the temperament to be King.

Ach, he'll be OK. Let's give him a chance. 😃

TheWernethWife · 14/09/2022 17:01

No sympathy for Camilla at all. He is what she has wanted for years and now this is her life now. From some of the images this afternoon she looks like she's aged 10 years.

turningpurpleygreen · 14/09/2022 17:26

He's a king. His Ma was 94

It's sad but not a tragedy.

He's waited/trained/been coached his whole life for this moment.

So let's not feel sorry for him. It's his job

He can cope

Hmm1234 · 14/09/2022 17:55

He has been acting like my toddler lately with the tantrums over stationery. YABU he needs to do better since becoming King not to mention reinstating Andrew wait till those memes and videos come out

Eowyn78 · 14/09/2022 17:56

Now I guess he wished he didn't agree that film crews could record the ceremony.

LovelyIssues · 14/09/2022 18:00

I can't beli people are calling him snappy and impatient. Most people would be bed bound heartbroken and grieving for their mother. He hasn't been allowed that. Humans are awful sometimes

Pava22 · 14/09/2022 18:01

It's his personality though... at least he doesn't pretend...

antelopevalley · 14/09/2022 18:01

Bed bound? Many of us have lost our mothers and have children to look after.

BirdyWoof · 14/09/2022 18:09

antelopevalley · 14/09/2022 18:01

Bed bound? Many of us have lost our mothers and have children to look after.

Plenty of us have lost family members but…

  • we haven’t been filmed every single day since their passing
  • we haven’t had to travel the country extensively while grieving
  • we aren’t having to work well into retirement age until we die
  • we don’t have articles written about us every single day criticising our every move and have thousands of people commenting surrounding it

At least when I’ve lost family members I’ve had the comfort of being able to grieve in peace and privacy. My actions haven’t been under a magnifying glass. Having children to look after is difficult in these times but certainly not as difficult as the aforementioned scenario.

Again, I’m no fan of Charles but I’d much rather live the life I live than deal with that when I’m in my seventies, that’s for sure.

PerfectlyPreservedQuagaarWarrior · 14/09/2022 18:09

Puzzledandpissedoff · 13/09/2022 23:26

I don't begrudge the man for being grumpy at all, but I am very surprised that he doesn't seem able to 'behave himself' when he knows all eyes are on him

But where's the motivation for his to behave better when he's surrounded on all sides by people who'll tell him how wonderful (though terribly misunderstood) he is?

Luckily it didn't happen with the Queen, but when you add the sycophancy to an already petulant personaility, this can be the unfortunate result

Agreed. So I myself wasn't remotely surprised.

CaptainKremmen · 14/09/2022 18:10

Might of helped if someone had had the forethought to use a bigger table 🤷‍♀️

Septemberslooming · 14/09/2022 18:12

BirdyWoof · 14/09/2022 11:45

It’s not rude. You’ve no qualms about being rude about Charles on here, why should I have any regarding you? You’re giving a short response because you have nothing to say.

He did speak to those at Hillsborough. There was an article yesterday about how he spoke to a lady who brought her Corgi there to see, as an example. He can’t speak to every single person in attendance- he’d be there for weeks if that was the case.

And you say no one knows the story of the elderly who await the King, but you did earlier? Apparently they’d all been waiting since 6am having been wheeled out from nursing homes? So what is it?

At the end of the day, if you’re basing your view on someone over a leaky pen then that’s your prerogative, but I think many of us, Royalist, Republican or somewhere in between, can acknowledge that sometimes humans show human emotions and small things like a leaky pen can push you over the edge a bit.

It honestly just sounds like you’re bitter that you traveled up, waited around and didn’t get a meet and greet moment to brag about to your mates afterwards.

Show quote history

I won't take lessons from decorum in someone who accuses a stranger of talking out of their hole.
I've met King Charles in the past and didn't want to meet him again. I think you're overly invested to put it mildly and I'll repeat again that his visit could have given more time to the public and less to throwing hissy fits over pens and schmoozing politicians.

ExpatAl · 14/09/2022 18:16

They are not sacked. They had fixed contracts and knew it was coming. Someone messed up - he should not have been given a leaking pen. He’s tired, grieving, busy snd it should not have happened.

ExpatAl · 14/09/2022 18:16

They are not sacked. They had fixed contracts and knew it was coming. Someone messed up - he should not have been given a leaking pen. He’s tired, grieving, busy snd the king. it should not have happened.

myfaceismyown · 14/09/2022 18:18

@turningpurpleygreen my DM was 83 when she died. When the Queen died I found myself unexpectedly in floods of tears mostly reminded of my own hearfelt, excruciating, aching loss. My mother had been unwell for 7 months, and even though I was mentally prepared that she would die, I was overcome with grief. I still feel the acute pain of loss.
I can't imagine how awful it must be to be 73, losing your DM and then having to travel constantly, every stop having people reminding you of your loss, people who did not know her crying and lamenting, and all the time having to look calm and controlled. Further, to be aware that this surreal existence will go on for exhausting days more. I am not an ardent Royalist but I do feel empathy for our King. Also I would get irritated at a leaky pen, and those pen stands? They looked like they are made of lead crystal glass and imagine people's reaction if he had knocked one on the floor and it shattered... Shouldn't have been there at all with those huge papers to sign, or maybe they should have given him a bigger desk!

Hyacinth2 · 14/09/2022 18:22

The guardian article said 'could lose their jobs ' so not too sure what exactly they are saying. Some, All? Or none?

iRun2eatCake · 14/09/2022 18:22

1000yellowdaisies · 13/09/2022 21:04

Just watched the clip.....i can't even see the issue, he barely says anything. The way the papers are reporting you'd think he threw the pen across the room and upended the desk

I agree! He was just passing comment. Nothing outrageous at all happened

CountryMouse22 · 14/09/2022 18:28

1000yellowdaisies · 13/09/2022 21:04

Just watched the clip.....i can't even see the issue, he barely says anything. The way the papers are reporting you'd think he threw the pen across the room and upended the desk

I'd pay to see that!

Mabelandmoose · 14/09/2022 18:35

He just walked off and left Camilla on her own.

Skodacool · 14/09/2022 18:38

EntertainingandFactual · 13/09/2022 21:06

He was really snappy a few days ago when signing something else. Lots of impatient hand gestures for someone to move the inkwell out of his way. Other people just moved it themselves when they signed.

He’s a bad tempered so and so but I think the good outweighs the bad. He seems generally decent.

Like a lot of indulged people he’s all jollity when things go well but very impatient and easily irritated at the slightest ‘incompetence’. He expects the servants to anticipate his every wish. I wouldn’t want to work for him.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 14/09/2022 18:40

I agree. It’s unkind. He’s just lost his mother and has all the pressure of being a king now heaped on shoulders - plus Harry’s book looming. So he got a bit snappy under the pressure- who wouldn’t?

Pliudev · 14/09/2022 18:42

I think the publicity surrounding this is a small sign of the tide turning. The G ran it front page alongside the article about staff at Clarence House being warned of redundancies. I imagine he's exhausted, I know I would be after all the travelling he's had to do in the last few days, on top of losing his mother and having to mourn her death in public. I don't imagine he was even consulted about the redundancies and while I agree the timing is insensitive, I doubt he was responsible for that.
He may well be difficult and indulged, I don't know him, but there are plenty of 73yr old men capable of truculent behaviour when life gets difficult. Let's just give him a break shall we? Unless and until he does something really unacceptable.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 14/09/2022 18:44

Most people would be bed bound heartbroken and grieving for their mother

"Bed bound"? And "most people"? When someone was 96?

I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how they should be grieving, but really have heard it all now Confused

Dinoteeth · 14/09/2022 18:47

Mabelandmoose · 14/09/2022 18:35

He just walked off and left Camilla on her own.

Watch again he was guided out the room away from the camera.