The royal family isn’t known for public displays of affection, but King Charles recently made an exception at Buckingham Palace.
The British monarch hosted a reception at his London royal residence on Sept. 11, and on the guest list was the New Zealand women’s rugby team, known as the Black Ferns. As seen in an Instagram clip, player Ayesha Leti-I’iga had a request for Charles at the event, asking him, “We all wanted a hug, but only if that’s OK with you.”
Breaking royal protocol, the king responded, “A hug? Why not!” to the delight of the rugby team, who then formed a group hug around the reigning monarch. “We didn’t mean to tackle you,” one player joked in a BBC video of the interaction, to which Charles quipped back, “It was like being flattened by a scrum.”
Later in the reception, the king again joked about his embrace with the Black Ferns. “I much appreciated this chance to meet you and have such a warm hug from most of you,” he said in a speech.
Royalists quickly commented on the now-viral video, expressing their delight and surprise over the rare interaction.
“This made me teary,” one user commented on Instagram. “Black Ferns smashing down hundreds of years of tradition and breaking barriers with one hug. Love love love.” Another fan wrote, “I think King Charles actually wanted and needed this hug just as much! So so sweet!”
Charles Revived Another Tradition
Although the king may have broken royal tradition at his Buckingham Palace reception, he recently revived another custom favored by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The Daily Mail reported in August that the British monarch would spend three months of summer at the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, as his mother would do during her record-breaking 70-year reign.
Charles’ 2024 summertime plans were a stark contrast to the year prior. He opted to spend much of his first summer as king in London before flying to France with his wife, Queen Camilla.
The monarch also recently surprised royal spectators by announcing that the historic Balmoral Castle would open its doors to the public in the summer of 2024, breaking hundreds of years of royal tradition.
