The newly-crowned King Charles III had the first viral moment of his reign this weekend, and it was not flattering. In a video circulating on social media, the king can be seen waving for a servant to come and clear away some items from his desk. Many commenters seem to think the clip is immature and petulant.
The video was taken on Saturday when King Charles was signing his accession proclamation. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II passed away last week at the age of 96. There are a lot of ceremonies in store for the new monarch as he lays his mother to rest and accepts the throne for himself, and in the meantime, he must project confidence through questions of the value of his office in the modern age. This video was powerful ammunition for his critics, who accused him of being out of touch and unkind.
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Of course, there are many people in the U.K. who still seem to hold the royal family in high esteem and admire King Charles. Some jumped to his defense as this video made the rounds, saying that it was taken out of context or explaining his behavior in other ways. Here’s a look at the surprisingly lively discussion around this short video clip.
Public Servant
In the modern era, the king is meant to be a public servant, and the royal family emphasizes this aspect of their role often. Some viewers thought that this video contradicted that idea pretty starkly.
Speculative Dialogue
Many commenters appended their own guesses about what the king was thinking or saying during this clip. They projected a haughty, entitled voice onto him.
Memes
Users shared memes implying that the king was not strong or coordinated enough to clear his own desk. It didn’t take long to graft this video onto other images across the internet.
Crisis
While most people saw this video as a simple “meme of the day,” some perceived it as a legitimate public relations crisis for the royal family. They quickly related it to other controversial topics King Charles will be facing in the future.
Defenders
The king had his vocal defenders online. Some argued that this particular moment was taken out of context, while others thought that the king was well within his rights to order a desk cleaned before he sat down at it. They felt that it would have been unbecoming for someone of his station to clear his own desk.
Other Videos
It didn’t take long for royal critics to dig up other videos of King Charles treating his staff impolitely.
Old News
The world is just now waking up to the fact that King Charles III is a bit of a spoiled brat with poor manners toward his working staff.
— 🎃🍂Rocky Mountain Views🍂🎃 (@RockyMountViews) September 12, 2022
He always has been like this. Get used to it.
He looks cranky.
— 🌊💦 Cate 🌊💦🇺🇸✌️🇺🇦 (@CateN28971059) September 11, 2022
Finally, many people criticized the fixation on this video itself. They felt like it was not major news that the king acted this way towards his staff.
