King Charles' Wardrobe Malfunction Humanizes Him With Royal Fans
Earlier this week, King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla visited Brick Lane, where in addition to conversing with people and ordering take-out food from a South Asian restaurant, the royal couple visited the Brick Lane Mosque, one of the most prominent sites in the area (via The Mirror). Before becoming a mosque, the building served as a church and then a synagogue. Now that it is a mosque, The King and Queen made certain to follow appropriate customs when paying a visit.
As such, before entering the building, King Charles removed his shoes as a show of respect, and proceeded to tour the mosque in his socks. A moment that might otherwise have been notable for The King's respectful behavior is instead being celebrated for another reason: the state of Charles' socks.
Onlookers and photographers quickly noticed that there was a visible hole in one of The King's socks, prompting people across social media to comment on the fact that perhaps even royalty is just like them after all.
How a hole in a sock won hearts
Often, average citizens can feel fairly disconnected from Royals, as they appear to live lives of perfect luxury and privilege, far removed from what the average person's life is like. Moments like this one, in which one of the most famous royals on the planet appears to have an issue similar to those dealt with by common folks all the time tend to humanize royals to their fans and subjects.
That is exactly what happened when the world caught a glimpse of King Charles' imperfect sock. The hole, which appeared to be in the black sock on his right foot, left many people smiling and saying things across social media like, "King Charles is truly one of us! Most of us have at least one pair of socks with a hole" (via Express). Others echoed this sentiment, saying that King Charles is "one of us" and "Just like us!"
It just goes to show that The Palace can plan as many positive PR tactics as it wants, but sometimes it's the accidental human moments that endear royals to their public the most.
Why this matters for King Charles
This type of humanizing moment is likely a great thing for King Charles, as many people found his late former wife, Princess Diana, far more relatable and accessible than they did him. She was nicknamed "The People's Princess," and it is said that while they were married, Charles resented how popular Diana was, feeling as though she was constantly stealing his spotlight.
While royal fans may have watched this jealousy play out in the hit Netflix series The Crown, the situation was not made up to add drama to the show. In 1995, Princess Diana spoke openly and publicly about how her then-former-husband had felt about her wild popularity across the globe and the absolute devotion her fans showed to her. Speaking to the BBC at the time, Diana said, "With the media attention came a lot of jealousy; a great deal of complicated situations arose because of that" (via Marie Claire).
And in more recent years, Charles took some hits in the realm of public opinion when he married his longtime girlfriend and affair partner, Camilla Parker-Bowles, who is now Queen Consort. This controversial union necessitated plenty of positive public relations efforts, as Camilla had been considered unfit to become the wife of a king since before Charles and Diana even married (via Biography).
As such, instances that show to the world that King Charles is, in fact, just like the rest of us, with very human struggles, helps to endear him to the public.