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AIBU?

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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:
Roussette · 15/09/2022 10:29

Puzzledandpissedoff · 15/09/2022 10:21

I would insist we leave him alone about this because he is under so much pressure… if this wasn’t his usual behaviour

Exactly
A snit over an penstand or a leaking pen doesn't matter a damn in itself, but the attitude behind it may well matter a great deal

And why are folk suggesting he hasn't had a break in all this? Yes he's been busy, but "hardly a nanosecond" is a bit much, it's not as if he's in his nineties like his mum, and these days 73 isn't often the point where people put their feet up - especially if every single thing they're expected to do is organised and smoothed by others

Agree. And he's got time off at Highgrove now, tomorrow he goes to Ireland but he has a day/day and a half to recoup

derxa · 15/09/2022 10:32

Roussette · 15/09/2022 10:29

Agree. And he's got time off at Highgrove now, tomorrow he goes to Ireland but he has a day/day and a half to recoup

Show quote history

He's going to Wales and before that Northern Ireland

Grandeur · 15/09/2022 10:33

Charles is starting to come across as very petulant. Not a good look at all. I wonder if the palace will tell him to dial it down.

Roussette · 15/09/2022 10:41

derxa · 15/09/2022 10:32

He's going to Wales and before that Northern Ireland

Show quote history

I got them in the wrong order then, it's what my local news said

Dinoteeth · 15/09/2022 10:50

Has he not been in Northern Ireland is that not where he had the leeky pen?

derxa · 15/09/2022 10:54

Dinoteeth · 15/09/2022 10:50

Has he not been in Northern Ireland is that not where he had the leeky pen?

Yes he has and yes that's where the leaky pen incident happened.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 15/09/2022 11:06

Charles is starting to come across as very petulant. Not a good look at all. I wonder if the palace will tell him to dial it down

Forgive me but I had to smile at that
God knows there are enough accounts from people who've asked him - not even to "dial it down" but just if there may be a better way of doing such-and-such, and it doesn't appear to end well

The idea of someone trying is a lovely mental image though, if one due to leave anyway gave it to Charles straight

oakleaffy · 15/09/2022 11:19

Camilla probably can say “Oh dahling, it’s only a silly old pen that is leaking- Unlike Palace insiders- Here, have a handkerchief to wipe your fingers on, and it’ll all be OK”

Dillydaffy · 15/09/2022 11:30

I know someone who worked very closely with him. He is well known for an awful temper, throws things across the room when displeased etc. He is also an extremely heavy drinker and he was so unfaithful to his first wife without a thought for how she might feel. So I'm not feeling hugely sorry for him being shown to be as he is, and I suspect there is much more of it to come. The man has the patience of a toddler.

Dillydaffy · 15/09/2022 11:42

@Roussette I live locally to Highgrove. Charles and Camilla mostly live their lives apart. Very rare for them to be together there.

Roussette · 15/09/2022 11:54

Dillydaffy · 15/09/2022 11:42

@Roussette I live locally to Highgrove. Charles and Camilla mostly live their lives apart. Very rare for them to be together there.

@Dillydaffy I'm going to PM you!

Jennybeans401 · 15/09/2022 11:56

He's widely disliked for being petulant and demanding. This has just confirmed what other people already know. I doubt he'll be King for long or monarchy will survive.

Australia will hold a vote soon to keep him their head of state.

Jjones8 · 15/09/2022 11:58

It was rather mean and unnecessary to write about it in the press. I feel rather sorry for him. He is only human.

Myotherdogsaballboy · 15/09/2022 12:22

I would not have. After both my parents died in a car accident every other stress seemed incredibly unimportant. Shit like a pen leaking seemed so unimportant

So sorry about your parents antelopevalley. I feel the same. My Mums death was horrific, I’ve lost a grandchild, I’ve been through some absolute shit in life and all this has made me realise how little everyday annoyances matter or are worth getting worked up about. It’s given me more of a sense of perspective I think.

Zonder · 15/09/2022 12:27

I wonder if you got your sense of perspective immediately after they died though.

Experience in my family has sometimes been that immediately after the loss people have been on a very short fuse and it doesn't take much to go wrong for them to snap.

All very well saying he's only 73, he's had time to rest and all that but frankly 73 is when most people are retired, not on show all the time as they take on a new job. And when has he had time to rest? They've been on the go loads. I'm twenty years younger and would feel it. Plus when we have suffered bereavement we have struggled to even sleep enough.

It's just not fair that this clip was leaked. I hope the person who leaked it realises that it was really a horrible thing to do at this time.

antelopevalley · 15/09/2022 12:28

@Myotherdogsaballboy I am so sorry for your loss.
I do get irritated at small things now although I know I should not. But for about a month after my parent's death I was supremely calm about anything irritating. Other people say at work would complain about things and I would nod, but I would be thinking so what. That is so unimportant.
Although even now I would not get annoyed at a leaking pen. That is so small on the level of irritating things.
Maybe Charles had not had enough bad stuff in his life to gain a sense of perspective? He had a hard time at boarding school, his ex-wife died in a car crash, his favourite Uncle died in an IRA bomb, and his parents died at a very old age in the best of the health. But his children are married and healthy, he has grandchildren, a wife who obviously loves him, and no financial worries. He does not appear to appreciate his immense good fortune in life.

jennakong · 15/09/2022 13:34

In the light of his recent behaviour, I am intrigued by the late Queen's request that Camilla be his queen consort and by his side throughout his reign, rather than some shadowy 'duchess' lurking in the background. Apparently, this was very much the Queen's wish. Obviously she was a very canny woman who knew her son very well, and may have had real concerns about how he might need a stabilizing presence beside him.

greenhousegal · 15/09/2022 14:25

Camilla is going to get the rolling pin out soon. I'd say she knows exactly what he is like and escapes to her house most of the time. I don't know if she will have the luxury of "doing her own thing" much from now on though, which might bring its own tensions. I get the feeling that she is uncomfortable when "on show".

I would not like to be in her shoes, although she knew this day would come.

LoopyLoo1991 · 15/09/2022 14:26

Shows he's human.

The Queen swore like a trooper when David Beckham got sent off at 1998 world cup. Imagine if they got that on camera!

Everyone can lose their cool, we have our bad moments. Unlike 'some' - Thatcher had video of her tripping on kerb deleted - he is very unlikely to try and stop release of footage.

Myotherdogsaballboy · 15/09/2022 16:39

Zonder. I wonder if you got your sense of perspective immediately after they died though.

I did. I think I was so exhausted, shocked and numb I was just doing everything I needed to do pretty calmly. Minor annoyances just seemed spectacularly unimportant and inconsequential after everything we had been through involving life and death. The funeral of both parents had to be the same day they died so as the sibling who lives in the same county I was the one getting certificates, registering the deaths, breaking the news to relatives and friends, phoning relevant clergy, burial people, getting food sorted out for after the burial. The Registrar was having a nightmare getting the spelling of my DFs name right but I just wanted to get out and on to the next thing and though I was inwardly stressed out I didn’t have a tantrum while they tried their best to get it right. We are all different and react differently in times of crisis though.

Dinoteeth · 15/09/2022 16:47

@Myotherdogsaballboy that must have been a huge shock. And probably still in shock going through the funeral.

I can see the advantages of getting the funeral done with on the same day, lots of stress but then it's done. You have time to grief.

Where I am funerals are generally about a week that can be a lots of stress worrying about it.
I honestly don't know how the English population deal with having to wait 6 weeks for the funeral.

Autumn61 · 15/09/2022 18:04

He’s 74 years old for gods sake. I’m sure he had been prepared for years for the death of his elderly parents. I haven’t seen the video and I don’t really give a whooping funt about it, but, I did see him being extremely rude to one of his ‘servants’. Horrible and archaic .Bowing and curtesying to another human being ! Never.

mbosnz · 15/09/2022 18:12

Haven't read the full thread, but hope he appreciates not having to worry about finding the money for the funeral. Yes, he's lost his Mum, yes, he himself is old, yes, he is having to do the job he is ridiculously well paid for, yes, he's having to deal with the family dynamics etc that we all have to, and yes, due to his ridiculously well paid job, he is very much in the public eye, and if he does something that is not aligned with the optics they're working hard to create, it's likely to be very public indeed.

Myotherdogsaballboy · 15/09/2022 18:33

Dinoteeth
@Myotherdogsaballboy that must have been a huge shock. And probably still in shock going through the funeral.

In some ways it made the funerals more bearable because it felt so unreal. Nothing had time to sink in so everything I was doing and everything that was happening felt in no way related to my parents actual death, if that makes sense. I gave a eulogy at both parents funerals and people were asking how I managed to do that. I think it was because I was in autopilot. Not sure I’d have got through it so lucidly a week or two later.

i really feel for people who for whatever reason can’t have a funeral for many weeks or months even. There’s never a best time, but long waits must be utterly draining. As you say, a week is really hard and stressful.

weefergie56 · 15/09/2022 18:54

I personally think he didn't go far enough. He would have been "the king of the people" if he just said 'oh FFS 🙄'. The man's grieving and stressed and he can fling a pen if he wants. I think it was a happy accident it was aired. Shows he's human.