Moment King Charles' Aide Grabbed Journalist's Microphone Caught on Camera

The moment a palace aide grabbed a journalist's microphone at an event attended by King Charles III in 2015 has resurfaced on social media, gaining over 200,000 views in under 24 hours on TikTok.

The video was shot when Charles was still the Prince of Wales. He was attending a royal event at the time when a political scandal was breaking about a series of letters he had written to politicians.

Nicknamed the "black spider memos" by the press, after Charles' distinctive style of handwriting, the letters were the subject of intense debate as initial freedom of information requests to view the collection were blocked. In 2015, a cache of the letters to government ministers were finally released and revealed that the prince had written to them with his concerns regarding policy areas such as social housing and the environment. This opened the prince up to public criticism for appearing to use his power as a member of the royal family to interfere with politics.

In response, a statement from the palace read, in part: "The Prince of Wales cares deeply about this country, and tries to use his unique position to help others. He has devoted most of his working life to helping individuals and organisations, to make a difference for the better of this country and the world."

Uploaded to TikTok by user the.royal.watcher on June 27, the video of Charles shows him arriving at a royal engagement in London two days after the "black spider memos" were released. A palace aide then blocks the royal from a journalist later identified as British TV network Channel 4's then-political correspondent Michael Crick.

Not shown in the video, Crick asked the prince if he was "still writing letters to ministers like that" and if he was "worried about these letters." The prince's former communications secretary Kristina Kyriacou stepped in to block Crick, and, in doing so, pulled apart the wind defender of his broadcast microphone.

The video of the incident has been viewed on TikTok over 200,000 times and received more than 2,000 likes and numerous comments, many of which have voiced conflicting views on the situation.

"The real King's Guard!" wrote one user, with another adding: "That smile she did at the end mission accomplished."

A further comment read: "Was that genuinely necessary?"

In 2018, the prince addressed criticism leveled at him from commentators who accused him meddling in politics while Prince of Wales, in a BBC documentary marking his 70th birthday.

Looking ahead to a day where he would accede to the throne, Charles said: "The idea, somehow, that I'm going to go on in exactly the same way, if I have to succeed, is complete nonsense because the two, the two situations, are completely different."

When asked if his campaigning on issues, which have included the environment, rural crafts and architecture, would continue when king, the prince said: "No, it won't. I'm not that stupid."

Since becoming king in September 2022, Charles has seen a transformation in his public working life, which includes an increased security detail that shadows him 24/7.

In his accession speech, made a day after Queen Elizabeth II's death, the new monarch affirmed his earlier statement that he wouldn't continue his public campaigning, saying: "My life will, of course, change as I take up my new responsibilities. It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply. But I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others."

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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