Tom Sykes shared his impressions of the King after seeing him in person during an October visit to Aberfan.
Royal commentator Tom Sykes has raised concerns about King Charles’s appearance after meeting him face to face during a visit to Aberfan in Wales in October.
Speaking in a YouTube video, the Daily Beast’s editor-at-large described the King as looking “incredibly frail”. However, he stressed that his comments should not be taken as a prediction that Charles’s death was imminent.
“I’m not sensationalising this. I’m not saying I think the King is about to drop down dead or anything like that,” Sykes said. “I have no reason to doubt my sources. But up close you can really, really see the toll that the treatment has taken on him.”
Recalling the encounter, Sykes said the King looked “tiny” and claimed there had been noticeable changes in his weight, hair and face.
“He looks very small. He’s lost a great deal of weight. A lot of hair, a lot of flesh off his face,” he said.
Sykes also claimed that Charles was wearing a substantial amount of make-up, which he said was more obvious in person than on camera.
“He’s just covered in make-up. Absolutely covered in make-up, and when you’re up close you can see it,” he said.
Despite that observation, Sykes said he understood the decision, suggesting it helped keep attention on the King’s public duties.
“It looks totally fine on camera, I think it’s the right thing to do, I hasten to add,” he said. “It would be distracting if Charles was looking terribly grey or this or that… All the conversation would be about his health.”
Describing his personal impression as “absolutely shocking”, Sykes concluded that the King looked “very, very, very old and very, very tired”.
