One smitten 91 year old royal fan seized the opportunity of a lifetime during Tuesday’s Guernsey walkabout, when she boldly asked King Charles for a kiss – and he happily obliged!
When most people meet members of the Royal family, they tend to be on their best behaviour and at times can even be a little star-struck during the once-in-lifetime experience. Yet while many people are content to settle for a handshake and kind word, one long-standing royal fan decided to live out a lifelong dream when she met King Charles on Tuesday – by cheekily asking his majesty for a kiss during his Guernsey walkabout.
The unexpected encounter took place on July 16, when the King, 75 and his wife Queen Camilla, 76, continued their two-day trip to the Channel Islands to meet with locals. The day started off as originally planned with a visit to St. Peter Port seafront before King Charles oversaw a short special sitting of the States of Deliberation (Guernsey’s Parliament).
Following his official duties, the King headed out to meet with the many fans that had come to greet him on his visit, but it was one cheerful pensioner, Kathleen Moriarty, 91, that truly made for a memorable encounter as she boldly asked the monarch for a kiss during his visit.
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In a short video shared by the BBC, the smiling local placed her hand on the King’s shoulder as he came to say hello, with the duo sharing a warm and friendly chat with each other before Kathleen decided to seize the opportunity of a lifetime and make her request. Recounting the moment it happened, she told viewers: “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.
The heart-warming moment was also captured by ITV reporters too, with royal correspondent Chris Ship also having shared footage of the moment the kiss took place on social media, much to the delight of his followers.
“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.
Although the kiss was a break from the usual standard protocol, in recent years the rules have largely been relaxed about how to behave when meeting members of the royal family – yet even so, the kiss certainly came as a surprise to many onlookers!
According to the official royal website, which has yet to be updated following the death of the late Queen Elizabeth in 2022: “There are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting the Queen or a member of the royal family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms.”
“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.”
While the kiss may certainly have been unexpected, it isn’t the first time King Charles has welcomed shows of affection while out in public, as the monarch previously permitted a woman to kiss his cheek shortly after his accession to the throne.Just days after his late mother’s death, Charles humbly accepted a kiss from a well wisher as he greeted mourners outside of Buckingham Palace, in a moment the woman in question, Jenny Assiminios, later reflected on.
“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 recalled during an interview with CNN. She then added: ”Thank you, God, for letting me see him and kiss him.”
