Do you suppose the Buckingham Palace courtiers think King Charles performed flawlessly at the Gladiator II premiere in London last week? By all outward appearances, Charles made a grand entrance and greeted the actors and director Ridley Scott without any hiccups. So I wonder how much his team is tracking that he was photographed arriving with a Burger King sign perfectly reflected in his car window, or that people took note of Denzel Washington refusing to be rushed along to make way for the king, or that Irish heartthrob Paul Mescal basically said, “meh,” when asked how exciting it was to meet the monarch. The Americans and Irish aren’t buying what Chuck is selling, and it cracks me up! Now on the heels of Mescal telling us how he really feels, Denzel talked about his brief encounter with Charles while chatting with Jimmy Kimmel on his show Monday night:

Denzel Washington checked another item off his bucket list.

Indeed, the iconic actor recently shared his experience meeting King Charles III during the Gladiator II premiere in London Nov. 13.

“They got all these rules about ‘you can’t be too close,’ ‘let them speak first,’ ‘don’t shake hands,’” Denzel explained to Jimmy Kimmel during a Nov. 18 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“I forgot it all. I forgot everything.”

And while it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to meet the English monarch, Denzel said they kept the conversation brief, sticking to small talk.

“It’s good to be king,” he posited. “That was my first king that I remember. He said he loved all my movies.”

And when the late night host incredulously pressed on whether the royal had actually seen all of Denzel’s films, the Equalizer star jokingly emphasized, “That’s what he said — all of them.”

Of course, Denzel wasn’t the only star to meet the king that night. The entire Gladiator II cast — including Pedro Pascal, Paul Mescal and Connie Nielsen — was able to greet the king at the film premiere.

[From E! News]

Ugh, the inane rules! I’m an impish contrarian, so upon hearing those directives I would’ve made sure to step into Charles’ personal space and ask the first question, but in all honesty I wouldn’t shake his hand. I’m more of a hug person. But really, what is so catastrophic for the royal family about genuine interactions that handlers must be deployed ahead of time to warn others against treating them as, well, human? Denzel was actually photographed giving Charles a hearty handshake on the receiving line, and the contact didn’t cause the king to disintegrate into a pillar of salt. Also, if I were in Denzel’s shoes comfortable red carpet sneakers (and in my continued quest to be sent straight to the Tower of London), I totally would have followed up with Charles on the “I love all your films!” line. “Oh really, how lovely. Which is your favorite?” And then just let it hang there awkwardly, waiting to see if he comes up with a name while engaging in very direct eye contact. I have a vivid memory of Ewan McGregor talking about meeting then-Prince Charles at the Moulin Rouge premiere in 2001 (and have spent a stupid amount of time trying to find it in an interview to link to but to no avail, so you’ll just have to take my word for it). He and Nicole Kidman were on a receiving line, and when Charles reached Ewan he said “And what did you do on the film?” Quick-thinking Ewan gestured to Nicole and said, “I play her boyfriend.” Nailed it.

Anyway, the wait is nearly over for Gladiator II, we just have to make it to Friday! Denzel was funny and charming as hell on Jimmy Kimmel, and they covered a pretty wide range of topics in only 12 minutes. Apparently, Denzel has a certain amount of screen time with a monkey as his scene partner. So Jimmy asked Denzel if there were any rules for working with the monkey; you know, like there were for approaching the king. Another nailed it.

fun fact denzel was told to go inside because the king was here but he told security “i make my own rules” and continued to talk to us pic.twitter.com/HY4KgM9uo0

— laila🌿 (@falconsnat) November 13, 2024

Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Justin Ng/Avalon