The New Zealand Women’s Rugby Team were greeted by King Charles during an official visit to Buckingham Palace yesterday, in an interaction that has gained worldwide attention.
In choir formation at the beautifully historic palace, the ladies treated the King to traditional Kiwi vocals. At the same time, their captain gifted Charles III with a specially signed Black Ferns shirt.
View this post on Instagram
Once the formalities had been completed, it was time to relax a little. Speaking to a group of Black Ferns players, King Charles was asked for a hug. The players had mentioned that they didn’t want to ‘tackle’ him, which broadened the king’s smile, before inviting them in for what essentially turned into a heartwarming scrum.
King Charles meets New Zealand women’s rugby union team @BlackFerns They asked for a hug, the King replies: “Why not!” #KingCharles #RoyalFamily #blackferns #royalcameraman pic.twitter.com/sQocjlaTF6
— Duncan Stone (@DuncanCStone) September 11, 2024
There’s a lot of pressure on the royals, particularly nowadays with such a rocky political and economic landscape, but this video will go a long way to shedding some real humanity on the English king.
Prop Tanya Kalounivale later talked about the conversations had with the King, claiming: “The King said his position when he played rugby was a lock. He said that was the worst position because when the scrum collapses you’re in the middle of it.”
Later King Charles paid his own tribute to the team, saying: “I much appreciated this chance to meet you and to have such a warm hug from most of you, very healing.”
Fans have loved this interaction, with over 180k people ‘liking’ the Royal Family’s post on Instagram. Fans have been commenting with purely complimentary views. Here are some of the comments:
celebrantannie: ‘Omg. This made me teary! Black Ferns smashing down hundreds of years of tradition and breaking barriers with one hug .. Love love love’
denise.williams133: ‘Maybe after what the King has been through with his cancer treatment etc. Maybe he is reminded life is too short to stand on cermony and loosen up a bit and be normal. The public will love it xx
postcards_from_cristie: ‘This is the best freaking thing about royalty I’ve ever seen! I love the Sisters embraced the patriarchal head of colonialism. And they LOVED it! I loved it. The second he said yes, THEY stacked on him. And most of all, his joy… that he LOVED it! Just so much #aroha in this clip.’
Watch the exclusive reveal-all episode of Walk the Talk with Ardie Savea as he chats to Jim Hamilton about the RWC 2023 experience, life in Japan, playing for the All Blacks and what the future holds. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV
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