When the (real) King rode a Harley

Okay, well, not quite. But in one of the royal’s more unusual photo opportunities, then Prince Charles met with bikers from the Royal British Legion Riders Branch as part of a Poppy Day campaign in 2012.

The resulting image has the future King of England consorting with rough-looking bikers at St James’s Palace and the UK media observing “Prince Charles was less HRH and more Hells Angel as he took a Harley Davidson for a spin this morning.”

Did he actually “take it for a spin”? Well, we doubt that too, but this is the British tabloid press after all. The gleaming Softail was wittily dubbed a ‘Charley-Davidson”.

Another paper quipped “Next time, perhaps, he should come along in his leathers and boots rather than his suit and brogues.”

But Charles, aka The Prince of Wales at the time did later greet volunteers at Clarence House as part of the campaign to raise £1 million in a single day from donations across the capital.

Poppy Day in the UK is the equivalent of Australia’s Remembrance Day where we observe one minute's silence at 11am on 11 November to remember all those who died or suffered for Australia's causes in all wars and armed conflicts.

Lest We Forget