To let the public know he has a “spring in his step” King Charles wears a special, cheeky tie reportedly gifted from his young grandson, Prince Louis.
The 75-year-old monarch subtly let royal fans know that he is feeling good by wearing a pink T-rex tie, and according to commentators, it is a gift from Prince Louis, six, who reportedly has a fascination with dinosaurs.
Royal expert Robert Hardman told MailOnline: “Featuring a blue dinosaur pattern on a pink silk background, it is a cheeky play on his official ‘Charles III Rex’ cypher. Staff know that when ‘C-Rex’ is wearing his ‘T-Rex’ tie, he probably has a spring in his step.”
King Charles last wore the tie when he went to the Macmillan Cancer Centre at University College hospital on April 30, in a visit aimed at highlighting the importance of early cancer diagnosis.
There, he and Queen Camilla met cancer specialists about the latest treatments and spoke to some patients receiving chemotherapy.
The tie is also perhaps a nod to an inside joke shared with his beloved family, as Charles uses the initial R after his name to signify ‘Rex’ – Latin for ‘King’.
The bold accessory is thought to have been a Christmas gift from dinosaur-mad Prince Louis. And the young royal, like most children his age, would no doubt love the patterns and colours on the tie.
The pair have a close relationship with Prince Louis climbing onto his grandfather’s knee during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee pageant in 2022 and reportedly referring to him as Grandpa Wales.
The King was first spotted in the tie in back January 2023, when he visited Norbrook Community Centre and Bolton Town Hall to mark 100 years of Kelloggs, both in Greater Manchester. He sported the look again to attend a church service at Sandringham in January of this year.
After three months of outpatient treatment after his cancer diagnosis, Buckingham Palace said that doctors were sufficiently encouraged by the King’s positive progress to advise him that he could resume some public-facing duties.
Before his visit to the cancer centre, it was also announced the king had been named as the new patron of Cancer Research UK and he has been a longstanding patron of Macmillan Cancer Support.
Charles’s decision to openly share his cancer diagnosis with the public was widely praised and triggered a “King Charles effect” – a surge in visits to cancer information and support websites nationwide.
In a speech at a Macmillan event 25 years ago, Charles spoke about the need to “rewrite the rhetoric of cancer” and to “destroy the myths and misconceptions which block understanding and paralyse action”.
Charles first revealed he had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer on February 5.