15 candid photos of King Charles III that show a different side of the monarch
Talia Lakritz
- Royal family members often pose for pictures, but some of their best photos are unplanned.
- Candid photos show King Charles III wearing balloon hats, drinking beer, and dodging bumblebees.
Throughout his years in royal life, King Charles III has found moments of spontaneity and humor amid his duties.
Charles grinned as he drank a pint of beer in Talgarreg, Wales, in 2015.
His face lit up while meeting a cow in Wales in 2013.
Charled viewed livestock at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells, Wales.
That same year, he acquainted himself with a bald eagle.
Charles held a bald eagle named Zephyr at the Sandringham Flower Show in 2013.
When a bumblebee flew into his suit while he held a tuatara in 2015, Charles took it in stride.
Charles and Camilla shared a laugh after their encounter with a bumblebee during their 2015 tour of New Zealand and Australia.
Just as his mother Queen Elizabeth II was, Charles is a fan of corgis.
At the 2011 Sandringham Flower show, Charles stopped to pet a corgi.
He's dressed up as a cheesemonger while sampling wheels of cheese.
Charles paid a visit to Dewley Cheesemakers in Preston, England, in 2017.
And wore balloon hats while visiting schools.
At a community service lesson at a London school in 2017, Charles learned how to make balloon hats.
He joked around while trying on a pair of safety goggles in 2015.
Charles donned safety goggles before trying his hand at engraving while visiting the Art Worker's Guild in London in 2015.
An avid environmentalist, Charles wasn't afraid to get dirty while visiting an organic farm later that year.
Charles crouched down on the ground while participating in a wilderness survival skills class at an organic farm in Monmouth, Wales, in 2015.
Charles gleefully prepared a mojito on a visit to Cuba in 2019.
Charles and Camilla were the first members of the royal family to visit Cuba in an official capacity.
During that same trip, he also enthusiastically helped grind sugar cane.
Charles learned the skill at a restaurant called Habanera in Havana.
Photos of Charles at ease with members of his family show a relaxed side of the monarch.
Getty Images royal photographer Chris Jackson previously told Insider that the Highland Games in Scotland are one of his favorite royal engagements because "it's a lovely opportunity to photograph the royal family at an event where they're quite relaxed."
"Often, you look at the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and you almost forget that they're mother and son," Jackson said. "So to see them at an event like this, clearly enjoying themselves and feeling relaxed, it reminds me of these family bonds and this relationship."
At the 2014 Invictus Games, he shared a laugh with Prince William and Prince Harry over something amusing on William's phone.
Harry founded the Invictus Games, a sports competition for injured veterans, in 2014.
After taking a formal family portrait for Charles' 70th birthday in 2018, Jackson snapped a candid photo of Charles holding Prince Louis.
"For my job as royal photographer, a lot of it is capturing that formality, the pomp and ceremony that makes the royal family the royal family," Jackson previously told Insider about the photo. "But it is most special to capture these lovely family interactions. That's definitely the thing I enjoy the most, and really puts a smile on your face."
It's clear how much Charles enjoys being a grandpa.
In June, Charles held Louis on his lap during the Queen's platinum jubilee celebrations.
Charles has five grandchildren and five step-grandchildren from Camilla's first marriage.
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