The King and his royal rages! How - unlike his unruffled mother - Charles has a habit of losing his temper in public

The King may be head of the Commonwealth, but when it comes to keeping his cool, he is not always quite so composed.

For while his mother, the late Queen, was celebrated for her regal, unruffled demeanour in the face of the minor irritations of royal life, King Charles is becoming known as a monarch whose frustrations occasionally boil over in public.

From his almost comical battle with a succession of leaking fountain pens to his off-camera insult of BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell, the King has provided more than one rather unseemly glimpse behind the royal curtain.

His latest outburst came in Antigua, where Their Majesties found themselves caught in a tropical downpour during an outdoor ceremony. As the heavens opened, royal aides rushed to the Queen’s assistance, escorting her away beneath an umbrella, while Charles was left exposed to the elements.

‘Where’s the umbrella?’ he demanded, throwing his arms up as the rain soaked his suit. The King subsequently made light of his predicament, joking about growing watercress in his trousers.

It was a moment that raised familiar questions about the King’s ability to maintain his composure. For all his education and decades of preparation for the Crown, Charles has never quite mastered the art of keeping his frustrations under wraps.

Indeed, during a tour of Northern Ireland shortly after his accession in 2022, the King was caught on camera venting his anger during a signing ceremony at Hillsborough Castle near Belfast.

At first, the monarch appeared to embody the very picture of a regal statesman as he signed a visitors’ book. But hovering cameras captured what quickly became known as ‘pen-gate’, when a faulty fountain pen saw him fly into a rage.

Earlier this week, King Charles was caught out in a tropical downpour in an outdoor ceremony and was seen gesticulating for an umbrella

While at a 2022 signing ceremony, the King was caught on camera venting his frustration over a faulty fountain pen

‘Oh God, I hate this pen!’ Charles exclaimed, abruptly standing up and handing it to his wife, Camilla.

‘Oh, look, it’s going everywhere,’ she replied with characteristic calm.

‘Oh, I can’t bear this bloody thing… every stinking time,’ the King hissed before leaving the room.

The highly entertaining footage went viral, offering the public a rare glimpse of the man behind the monarchy. While many found the episode amusing, it also highlighted the pressures of Charles’s extraordinary transition from heir apparent to sovereign, following the death of his mother and his own accession.

It was a moment when the emotions he has spent a lifetime learning to contain appeared to come tumbling out from beneath the weight of the Crown.

But perhaps the most notorious example of Charles losing his cool came during a photocall with his sons, Princes William and Harry, in Klosters, Switzerland, in 2005.

The then Prince of Wales was posing for photographs during a family skiing holiday, just eight days before his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles, when BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell asked how he was feeling ahead of his nuptials.

‘I am glad you’ve heard of it,’ Charles replied sarcastically.

But it was what followed, picked up by a mini microphone attached to his clothing, that caused the real sensation.

‘Bloody people. I can’t bear that man anyway. He’s so awful, he really is,’ he muttered.

His comments became a major story, not least because the Prince had reportedly been briefed on the questions beforehand and could hardly claim to have been blindsided.

In 2005, a mini microphone caught Charles insulting BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell off-camera

His press secretary later expressed regret over the remarks, explaining that they reflected Charles’s frustration at the constant presence of photographers and the intense media scrutiny surrounding his forthcoming wedding.

The King has long been regarded as something of a perfectionist, reportedly working late into the night reading briefings and preparing speeches. It is perhaps little wonder that he can become irritated when things fail to go according to plan.

Born into the royal goldfish bowl as the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Charles has spent his entire life under public scrutiny, expected to maintain an impeccable appearance while keeping his private emotions firmly in check.

There is an argument that his occasional flashes of temper make him all the more relatable: a reminder that beneath the carefully managed public image is a man capable of becoming thoroughly fed up with the everyday irritations the rest of us encounter.

Others, of course, might argue that such displays undermine the decorum expected of a sovereign. Yet there was perhaps an understandable reason for his impatience in Antigua. The King is undergoing treatment for cancer, and standing in a rainstorm during an official engagement was hardly ideal.

While many found 'pen-gate' amusing, it also highlighted the pressures of Charles’s extraordinary transition from heir apparent to sovereign in 2022

His late father, Prince Philip, was himself taken ill after standing in the rain during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012, although the circumstances were different.

And there is evidence that Charles is capable of putting past irritations behind him. When Witchell retired from the BBC in 2024, the King sent him a message wishing him well for the next chapter of his life, a gracious gesture towards a correspondent he had once so publicly disparaged.

So, while Charles may occasionally prove an unusually tetchy monarch, his inability to conceal those occasional bouts of bad temper offers an intriguing glimpse of the man beneath the Crown.

After all, even a King can have a bad day, although most of us are unlikely to have our tantrums the subject of a viral talking point.