King joked about his 'sausage fingers' during coronation rehearsals

The King joked about his “sausage fingers” with Prince William during coronation rehearsals, a documentary has revealed.

As the monarch’s eldest son closed a small clasp that held a robe around his father, he quipped: “On the day, that’s not going to go in,” making his father laugh.

Smiling, the King replied: “No, you haven’t got sausage fingers like mine.”

Elsewhere in the BBC documentary, to be screened on Boxing Day, Princess Anne says she felt a “sense of relief” when the crown was removed from her mother’s coffin during a committal service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.

Prior to the final hymn, the Imperial State Crown, the orb and the sceptre were removed from the Queen’s coffin and placed on the altar by crown jeweller Mark Appleby.

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“My mother’s funeral in St George’s – he takes the crown off the coffin [and] I rather weirdly felt a sense of relief, somehow that’s it, finished,” Princess Anne says during the film.

It was symbolic of the “responsibility being moved on”, she adds.

Regarding the weight of responsibility her brother now holds, Anne comments: “To be honest, I’m not sure that anybody can really prepare themselves for that kind of change… not easily.

“And then the change happens and you go ‘okay, I now have to get on with it’.

“Monarchy is a 365 days a year occupation: it doesn’t stop because you change monarchs, for whatever reason.”

The princess also reveals the late Queen felt it would be “difficult” if she died at Balmoral but was persuaded to step back from the “decision making process”.

Queen Elizabeth, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died at Balmoral in Scotland on 8 September last year at the age of 96 following a reign lasting 70 years.

Anne says during the documentary: “I think there was a moment when she felt that it would be more difficult if she died at Balmoral. And I think we did try and persuade her that that shouldn’t be part of the decision making process.

“So I hope she felt that that was right in the end, because I think we did.”

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Different plans were in place depending on where the late Queen was when she died – whether at the various royal residences or overseas.

Arrangements for Scotland were known as Operation Unicorn.

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The documentary shows the various preparations for the coronation, including alterations to the crown jewels and the arrival of the King and Queen’s anointing oil from the Holy Land.

Charles III: The Coronation Year will be screened on Boxing Day at 6.50pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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