Prince William may not have as much hair as his father, but at least he hasn’t got the same ugly, sausage-like fingers.
And that’s according to King Charles himself, who admits to being digitally challenged in a behind-the-scenes documentary filmed for the BBC.
The documentary follows the rehearsals for Charles’ coronation in May this year and shows William struggling to close a small clasp on a ceremonial robe being worn by his father. “On the day, that is not going to go in,” William says.
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Charles replies with a smile: “No, you haven’t got sausage fingers like mine.”
It’s not the first time that Charles’ puffy fingers, much in evidence during everyday royal tasks such as shaking hands, signing laws, and knighting people, have been discussed in public. It has even been suggested they may betray an underlying medical problem, although the 75-year-old monarch appears to be in good health.
The Times newspaper reports that Charles has been the first to poke fun at his hands, telling a friend in a letter after William’s birth in 1982: “I can’t tell you how excited and proud I am. He really does look surprisingly appetising and has sausage fingers just like mine.”
The BBC documentary, Charles III: The Coronation Year, will be screened on Boxing Day as the royal family enjoys its annual break at the monarch’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
The film also features the king’s sister, Princess Anne, saying how her mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, had worried that her dying in Balmoral, her favored estate in the Scottish Highlands, would cause problems for her family. They reassured her it would not and it was there that she died in September 2022.
A BBC News article says the documentary also shows Charles giving his support to Ukrainian soldiers being trained in the U.K. to fight the Russian invasion and features Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as he “bobs about on a visit to meet the King, looking like an intern wondering how long he can stretch out the small talk.”
It adds: “It is a warm and sympathetic account of the new reign, with no glimpses of any difficult headlines from the year, whether about Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, a palace race row or protesters arrested at the Coronation.
“But it shows the King and Queen as a couple strengthened by each other, starting a busy new stage in their lives when most people of their age would be ready to put up their feet.”
