King Charles given pen by well-wishers after ink mishaps

New monarch laughs over gift

A well-wisher waiting to greet King Charles handed the new monarch a pen, after he was filmed having a mishap with a leaky pen which left his fingers covered in ink.

The King expressed frustration at a leaky pen during a signing ceremony in Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

The new monarch initially wrote down the wrong date as he signed a visitors’ book at Belfast’s Hillsborough Castle, before his pen started leaking.

“Oh god I hate this [pen],” he said, standing up and handing it to Camilla, the Queen Consort. “I can’t bear this bloody thing, what they do, every stinking time.”

He wiped his fingers on a handkerchief as a courtier wiped the pen with a cloth.

A video clip of the King during his walkabout in Cardiff on Friday shows a woman well-wisher smiling and handing him a pen, saying: “Just in case.”

King Charles graciously accepted the pen, looked down at it and laughed. The crowd then started clapping and joined in the laughter.

The monarch is known to carry his own fountain pen for when he is frequently called on to sign visitors’ books.

At Llandaff Cathedral in Wales, where the King and Queen Consort went on Friday for a prayer and reflection service for the late Queen, he took his own pen and signed the visitors’ book in the cathedral before passing his pen and the book to his wife.

At his first Privy Council meeting after his accession proclamation, he gestured for an ornate pen holder to be taken away.

Aides did so, but later it was back in place. Charles once again objected to the item when called upon to sign documents, and pulled a face for it to be removed again.