“A hug? Why not!” A little surprised by the request of the players of the New Zealand rugby team, the Black Ferns, welcomed at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday September 11, King Charles III willingly agreed to a collective hug with the team. The young women threw themselves into the arms of the hilarious monarch, laughing.
“We didn’t mean to tackle you,” joked one of the players. “I got flattened by a scrum,” replied the king, also continuing the metaphor with rugby.
“Really comforting”
“I really appreciated the chance to meet you, and to have such a warm hug with most of you,” the king said in a speech afterwards, prompting laughter from the audience. “It was really heartwarming.”
King Charles also performed a “hongi”, the traditional Maori forehead-to-forehead salute, with team coach Allan Bunting.
While King Charles has a warmer, more tactile style than his mother, Queen Elizabeth, who was strictly forbidden from touching, he is also not one for hugs. He does, however, regularly indulge in crowd baths, readily shaking hands that are extended.
“It was great to meet the king, he’s so lovely, and then we gave him a hug,” said one of the players, interviewed as they left the palace.
The New Zealand Black Ferns will face the England Red Roses on Saturday 14 September at the Allianz Stadium, formerly Twickenham.
King Charles, who will be making an official visit to Australia and Samoa next October, has however had to cancel his trip to New Zealand, due to his still fragile state of health. The sovereign announced that he was being treated for cancer last February. Although he resumed his public activities at the end of April, he is not cured and his doctors have advised him to lighten his schedule.
- BFMTV.com
