Happy birthday, King Charles! Although the British monarch already marked his official birthday back in June, the king’s real birthday is today, Nov. 14 — yes, the Royal Family is so rich he can afford two birthdays. Charles is turning 76 today, and his eldest son, Prince William, and daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, have celebrated his big day on social media.
Posting from the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official Kensington Royal account, the couple wrote, “Wishing a very Happy Birthday to His Majesty The King!” Alongside the message, their tweet shared a light-hearted pic of Charles from his recent trip to Samoa — in which he sports a pair of shades and a wreath around his neck. We call this the “High King” look.
At first this seems like a sweet gesture from two family members to another, but all is not quite as it seems here. The truth is that this message wasn’t written by William and Kate at all. No, I’m not attempting to launch some new wild conspiracy theory that the Waleses have been replaced by alien replicons from beyond the moon. It’s just that not all of the duo’s tweets are actually composed by their own fingers.
The key to working out when William and/or Kate have directly tweeted something themselves is that the pair of them will sign off their message with their initials — “W & C.” Previously, the pair received some flak when the Kensington Palace account tweeted Prince Harry a happy birthday message in October but it clearly wasn’t posted by them either. This time, of course, no one is implying that there’s any bad blood between William and his dad because they happened to let their social media manager take care of this tweet for them.
No doubt the prince and princess will offer some personal words to the king in private, although they probably won’t see each other in person. The king has a busy itinerary today as he’s set to launch the first two locations of his new Coronation Food Hub initiative, which officially launched on his 75th birthday last year but is now ready to go. Charles will open the first in person and the second virtually.
Queen Camilla was supposed to join him for the event, but her ongoing chest infection has prevented her from attending. This is something of a role reversal considering the ruling couple’s dynamic over the past few months, as the king has had to reduce his public duties amid his cancer struggles. The palace has stressed that there’s no cause for alarm concerning Camilla’s health, however.
When Charles became king, he inherited his official “birthday” from his mother, Queen Elizabeth. The monarch’s birthday parade — known as the Trooping the Color ceremony — is typically held on the second Saturday of June. This year, that fell on June 15, and it proved to be a notable occasion as it marked Kate’s first Royal engagement since her cancer diagnosis at the top of the year. Many happy returns, Your Maj!