King Charles Reveals What Reduced Him to Tears Recently

The night before his 76th birthday, King Charles revealed at a Buckingham Palace reception that he was reduced to tears recently — and Queen Camilla is apparently to blame.

The King, who celebrated his birthday on Nov. 14, said on Nov. 13 that he was moved by the Queen’s recently released documentary, Her Majesty the Queen: Behind Closed Doors, which debuted on ITV1 on Nov. 11.

At a reception celebrating the Film and TV Charity alongside Camilla, 77, Charles spoke with guests about the 90-minute film, which spotlights the Queen’s work giving voice to domestic violence victims — a key cornerstone of her royal work. In the documentary, Camilla said she will fight to end domestic abuse until she is “able to no more.”

Speaking with actor Damian Lewis — who also shared that he too had watched the documentary — the King said of the film, per The Telegraph, “It’s very moving isn’t it? I think BAFTA [British Academy of Film and Television Arts] are interested in it.”

The monarch also spoke at the reception to Kerene Barefield and Naveed Chowdhary-Flatt, the director and producer of the documentary, and told them he had been “moved to tears” when he watched a preview in Scotland.

“I am very proud of it,” the King added. “It reduced me to tears.”

In a more lighthearted moment with Lewis, the actor — who is starring as Henry VIII in the BBC’s Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light — joked with the King, “At least you can claim not to be related to him.”

Charles, who watched Wolf Hall with Camilla, said, “You are fantastic in it. Will you please give your fellow actors my regards? They are just brilliant.” (Lewis was actually wrong in his teasing — Charles is actually related to Henry VIII, though a distant relative of his.)

Though Camilla joined Charles for the reception, she didn’t accompany him later in the evening to the global premiere of Gladiator II as she eases back into royal duty following a chest infection that caused her to miss Remembrance events last week. She told guests at the reception that she had felt “absolutely rotten” last week but was “on the mend.”

The Film and TV Charity, of which the King is patron, supports the wellbeing of those who work behind the scenes in the industry and is celebrating its centenary year. Prince Edward and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester also attended the reception alongside the King and Queen, and the King took over the patronage from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, who held the role from 1952 until her death in 2022.

Elsewhere at the reception, the monarch asked actor Joseph Fiennes for recommendations on what to watch. After he was told he should tune into box sets, Charles replied, “The trouble is, there are some good ones and some not so good ones,” according to The Telegraph.

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Henry Golding, Lucien Laviscount, Claudia Winkleman and Fiona Bruce were also in attendance at the event. Later, at the Gladiator II premiere, the King continued his star-studded night, chatting with Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, and Ridley Scott, the film’s director.