The moment King Charles III was offered a surprise hug during a reception at Buckingham Palace has gone viral, after footage from his meeting with the New Zealand women’s rugby team was posted to social media site, TikTok, on Wednesday.
Charles hosted a special reception for the New Zealand women’s rugby union team nicknamed the “Black Ferns” on September 11.
The squad were invited to meet the royal during their stay in London ahead of an upcoming match against their English counterparts, the “Red Roses.”
Charles is King of New Zealand, in addition to 13 other Commonwealth Realms not including the U.K., though he has yet to visit the country following his accession to the throne.
King Charles III is pictured with a member of the Black Ferns New Zealand women’s rugby squad at Buckingham Palace in London on September 11, 2024. The king was asked for a hug during the meeting.
Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images
During his meeting with the Black Fern players in Buckingham Palace’s “Bow Room,” news cameras covering the event caught the moment that the monarch was unexpectedly asked for a “hug.”
“We all wanted a hug, but only if that’s OK with you?” they asked, to which the monarch appeared taken aback, responding: “A hug? Why not!”
Uploaded to the official Black Ferns TikTok account after the event, the clip shows the players embracing the king as he broke into a wide smile.
Captioned “Kicking our feet King Charles 🥹✨,” the TikTok video has been viewed over one million times in less than 24 hours. It has also gained in excess of 235,000 likes and over 2,000 comments, many of which have praised Charles and the unusual tactile display for a royal engagement.
“That’s the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on him,” posted one user.
“He probably doesn’t get hugged or even touched often. Such a simple human gesture to a man that has everything and look at the smile on his face. Priceless,” responded another, with a further comment reading: “King Charles changing my mind on a daily 💗.”
Hugs and the royal family became a topic of public interest in 2023 when Prince Harry published his bombshell memoir, Spare. In it, he made the surprise revelation that he had never hugged his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in his life.
He also stated that when his mother, Princess Diana, died when he was just 12 years old, his father didn’t hug him.
“Pa didn’t hug me. He wasn’t great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis?,” the prince wrote. “But his hand did fall once more on my knee and he said: It’s going to be OK.”
King Charles, in line with a blanket “no comment” position adopted by Buckingham Palace, did not publicly respond to the claims made by Harry in his book.
King Charles is pictured with the Black Ferns at Buckingham Palace on September 11, 2024. The king’s meeting with squad members has gone viral on TikTok.
Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images
The king is set to make his first major overseas tour since his accession with Queen Camilla in October, when he will visit Australia and the South Pacific island of Samoa. New Zealand has not been included in the itinerary on the advice of the royal doctors, as Charles is still in recovery following a cancer diagnosis in February.
During the Black Ferns reception on Wednesday, the monarch said he was sorry not to be able to extend his trip.
“I’m extremely sorry I can’t come to New Zealand in later October—it’s on doctors’ orders,” he said.
“But I hope there will be another excuse [to visit the country] before too long. In the meantime, give my love to New Zealand!”
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III and Queen Camilla, William and Kate, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.
