King Charles made quite the impression on a well-wisher during his visit to Guernsey with Queen Camilla!
The King, 75, and Queen, 76, continued their two-day trip to the Channel Islands on July 16, where they received a warm welcome from locals on the isle of Guernsey. After the royals arrived at St. Peter Port seafront and King Charles presided over a short special sitting of the States of Deliberation (Guernsey’s Parliament), the couple took time to meet some of the people who came out to see them.
As seen in a video shared to X by the BBC, Kathleen Moriarty, 91, placed her hand on the monarch’s shoulder when he approached. After they exchanged a few words, Moriarty leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.
“I says to him, ‘Please can I give you a kiss?’ And he give me his cheek,” Moriarty said in the BBC clip. “I just did it! I didn’t plan it, and I enjoyed it. He’s lovely. It was very nice. I am pleased.”
“I thought if all these young dolly birds can do it, this old lady can!” she added with a laugh.
Royals reporter Chris Ship of ITV shared footage of Moriarty’s kiss for the King from another vantage point, which captured the interaction and showed Moriarty waving a Guernsey flag after.
“If you can’t do it when you are 91 years old, when can you? Kathleen from Guernsey says she’s never kissed a King before, but now she most definitely has!!” Ship wrote.
While etiquette around British royals has been largely relaxed in recent years, Moriarty’s bold move came as a surprise.
“There are no obligatory codes of behavior when meeting the Queen or a member of the royal family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms,” guides the royal website, which has yet to be updated in full following the death of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022. “For men, this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy. Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way.”
However, it’s not the first time King Charles has received a kiss from an admirer. Just days after Queen Elizabeth’s death, Jenny Assiminios offered the new British sovereign a kiss as he greeted members of the public outside Buckingham Palace.
“I have seen him in front of me. I couldn’t believe it, and I said to him, ‘May I kiss you?’ He said ‘Well, yes,’ so I grabbed him, and I was very happy,” Assiminios said during an interview with CNN. “Thank you, God, for letting me see him and kiss him.”
Buckingham Palace shared in late April that King Charles is continuing treatment for cancer, following the announcement of his cancer diagnosis on Feb. 5. The monarch postponed public-facing duties from that time on medical advice, during which he continued to work behind the scenes and host small audiences. He resumed forward-facing work on April 30.
King Charles and Queen Camilla kicked off their trip to the Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands with a stop in Jersey on July 15, and the Queen sported an unexpected accessory on the second day of their stay. Queen Camilla stepped out in Guernsey with a bandage on her right ankle and appeared to lean on the umbrella she walked with for support.
The royal couple traveled to the Channel Islands off the northwest coast of France to highlight the special and historic relationship between the islands and the royal family, which traces back centuries.
Other highlights of the King and Queen’s time in Guernsey included the unveiling of a commemorative plaque, tour of local culture and heritage at Crown Pier (where the King sampled a beer and tour of Hauteville House where author Victor Hugo loved for literacy-loving Queen Camilla.
The King and Queen also got to see some rare Golden Guernsey Goats at Les Cotils, which are a breed considered at risk on the Rare Breeds Watchlist.
King Charles is patron of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and granted royal status to the minority breed.
“The King has granted a special Royal title to the rare Golden Guernsey Goat breed — known henceforth as the Royal Golden Guernsey Goat,” said royal reporter Rebecca English of the Daily Mail. “It is the first time in recent history that the protected title has been granted to a livestock.”
King Charles and Queen Camilla were forced to cut an engagement short in Jersey amid a security scare. An investigation determined it to be a false alarm, and the royals’ schedule resumed after a brief hiatus.
