King Charles made a five-word joke about the weather during the historic state visit by the Sultan of Oman in Windsor on Tuesday. As rain drizzled down on the town, the monarch offered the Sultan an umbrella, which was declined, prompting the King to say: "We like to stay dry".
Rainy welcome at Windsor Castle
On a rainy Tuesday morning, King Charles - accompanied by some of the most senior working royals - welcomed the Sultan of Oman to Windsor. In true British fashion, rain fell as the royals gathered outside the castle to inspect the troops and listen to the national anthems. While the King appeared to want to shelter under an umbrella, the Sultan was not bothered.
Lip-reading expert Nicola Hickling told the Daily Express exactly what was said. She said that when the King offered his umbrella, the Sultan replied: "No, it's not exactly pouring, is it." The Sultan then rolled his eyes.
The exchange and the joke
The King was then spotted replying, "Very well," followed by the five-word joke: "We like to stay dry". The Sultan of Oman was then seen responding: "It's what you are used to". The King agreed: "It is indeed".
The state visit, which also saw a glittering state banquet take place at the castle, was a historically significant moment for the royals. This is because it marks the first UK Oman state visit by an Omani monarch since Queen Elizabeth II hosted Sultan Qaboos bin Said in 1982.
Senior royals in attendance
The most senior royals stepped out to take part in the state visit, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Catherine. Other royals to attend events yesterday included Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Duchess Sophie and Prince Edward also took part in some of the day's proceedings at Windsor Castle, however were not seen at the state banquet. The reason behind this is unclear.
Prince Harry's comments
The start of the state visit, which ends on Thursday, appeared to be a strong success, despite a fresh blow for the royals. While they were busy with pomp and pageantry, Prince Harry - King Charles' non-working royal son - delivered some fresh blows to his father and brother.
The duke, who returned to Britain this year, was asked by GQ in a new bombshell interview whether he grieved the relationship he had with his father and brother. The duke told GQ: "Yes, of course. I think from a family perspective, again, another massively relatable issue for so many people, sibling disagreements, broken relationships between kids and their parents, kids and one parent.
"That continues to come up with me the whole time with people that I speak to, so I know how relatable it is. People may look at us and go, 'How are you gonna work it out? Maybe that will help me work my stuff out.' Some people don't want it to work out. I want it to work out. With everything else that's going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile—that's the key point. [...] Scars stick around forever.
"But what your perception is, and what your mindset is to those things that have happened, letting go of the past. That's something that I would encourage everybody to do: If there's certain things from the past that are still affecting you every day, that's harder to let go of. But, for me, there's enough drama in the world and enough drama in people's lives to continue with issues with family."
His team have since claimed that these comments were not aimed at the Royal Family and instead were made in a general context.
