King Charles and Queen Camilla wrapped up their tour of Australia this week, moving on to the South Pacific island of Samoa on Wednesday, Oct. 23. But when the royal couple visited its capital, Apia, on Oct. 24, King Charles received a rather unusual greeting.
"Welcome to the house of pain, Your Majesty!" tattoo artist John Lemisio quipped (per the Mirror) as The King witnessed the sacred Samoan art of "Tatau" or traditional tattooing.
"It's very painful, very painful," Lemisio confessed with a laugh during his candid exchange with King Charles. "Does the pain last very long?" the monarch asked, leading Lemisio to give him a philosophical reply of, "It is a lifetime of pain."
The King wondered, "Do you need a drink for that?" but the experienced tattooist said, "No. No medicine." Charles was shown the intricate designs, which are rich with cultural meaning and can show one's social status as well as important moments from a person's life.
The King witnessed traditional Samoan tattooing at work.
King Charles—who recently was greeted by a rather unusual royal fan in Australia—viewed the demonstration during his visit with Queen Camilla to a cultural village set up to display various traditions such as weaving to the royals.
Per the Mirror, the event was set up by the Samoa Tourism Authority so people from local villages could gather "in one place" and allow the royal couple to "meet as many locals as possible."
Queen Camilla also got to meet Miss Samoa 2024, Litara Leremia-Allan, who said, via the Mirror, "Samoan Queens have strength and resilience are the glue that holds our community together. A Samoan Queen and British Queen is a meeting of two different understandings and an intersection of cultures and I'm honored to present this side."
During their visit to Apia, King Charles took part in a special welcome ceremony that involved drinking a traditional (and narcotic) root drink called ava. Per the Guardian, "Australia’s former deputy prime minister was hospitalized" after downing too much of the drink "at a similar ceremony in Micronesia," so it's probably for the best that Charles took it easy on the brew.
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