King Charles Just Showed Off His Special Gift from Prince Louis—and the Natural History Museum Has Thoughts
This week marked a major royal occasion for King Charles: After revealing his cancer diagnosis in February, he made his official return to public-facing work on Monday with a visit to the Macmillan Cancer Centre at the University College Hospital London. A big deal, which is why Charles decided to dress to impress. In fact, he chose to don a tie with a Tyrannosaurus Rex theme that was a gift from his grandchildren—Prince Louis, specifically, according to the Daily Mail—and one that has a hidden meaning, too.
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The inside joke? Well, the word rex in Latin just happens to mean king. As royal expert Robert Hardman describes, the pink tie with its blue dinosaur pattern is a “cheeky play” on Charles’s official cypher. “Staff know that that when ‘C-Rex’ is wearing his ‘T-Rex’ tie, he probably has a spring in his step.” (Come on, how can you not love that?)
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But the story doesn’t end there. The Natural History Museum in London—which happens to have a robust dinosaur exhibit featuring a mechanical T. Rex that actually moves—had a bone to pick with the king’s sartorial choice.
Who wore it best? 🤔
Great to see the King giving a cheeky nod to the king of the dinosaurs in this fantastic T. rex tie while out on duties. Our very own T. rex had chosen his King Charles tie to wear to say hello to visitors this morning! One of them will have to change... pic.twitter.com/CvZ94dyhIE— Natural History Museum (@NHM_London) May 1, 2024
“Who wore it best?” a post on the museum’s official X account teases alongside an image of Charles wearing his tie next to the in-house animatronic T. Rex also wearing the same style. (The work of Photoshop, no doubt.) “Great to see the King giving a cheeky nod to the king of the dinosaurs in this fantastic T. rex tie while out on duties. Our very own T. rex had chosen his King Charles tie to wear to say hello to visitors this morning! One of them will have to change...” (FWIW, the poll that follows has Charles winning by a landslide.)
Even more entertaining, the official Royal Family account on X played along with a simple re-tweet and two-word acknowledgment: “Rex-cellent choice” followed by two dinosaur emojis.
We’re here for all of it, but more than anything, it’s dino-mite (#sorrynotsorry) to see Charles back out and about.
