Last week, the world celebrated the coronation of King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, as they officially took the British throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September. It was a historic moment for the UK and its Commonwealth reigns – one that hasn’t occurred in more than 70 years.
While social media platforms were overwhelmed with coverage of the coronation, a lot of the attention wasn’t being directed towards King Charles’ new crown. Instead, social media users were zeroing in on King Charles’ sausage fingers as several photos surfaced of His Majesty’s inflamed and swollen fingers.
King Charles ‘bullied’ out of showing ‘sausage fingers’ in new portraits https://t.co/hKvhGEUq9d pic.twitter.com/Iklb2Dy3TL
— New York Post (@nypost) May 2, 2023
In fact, his ‘sausage fingers’ have been roasted online for several months now and was, at one point this year, the seventh most-searched term on Google. Users have been quick to note that he has refrained from showing his fingers since the banter started, but Charles has yet to address or comment on it.
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With that said, the banter has a lot of people wondering – is something wrong with King Charles’ fingers, or is this something normal? According to several doctors who have spoken about the topic in recent months, King Charles’ sausage fingers are likely a result of swelling caused by fluid retention (edema).
Dactylitis is the first symptom you see in children who live with sickle cell.
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Dactylitis is popularly known as Hand and Foot Syndrome.
This is a painful episode and should not be treated at home.
Be Sickle Smart.#SickleCellDisorder #sicklecell#SickleCellAwarenessMonth pic.twitter.com/3BW43kUZSy
More specifically, edema in the fingers or toes is known as dactylitis – the medical term for ‘sausage fingers.’ While most cases of swelling only apply to one specific area, dactylitis affects the entire finger or toe at once. The most common causes of dactylitis are autoimmune disorders, arthritis, and infections.
“This condition arises due to inflammation and can be a result of arthritis, multiple bacterial infections or even TB. Other possibilities include high salt levels, allergic reactions, medicinal side effects, injury, and autoimmune diseases,” Chun Tang, Medical Director at Pall Mall Medical in Manchester, told Daily Mail.
Treatments do exist for dactylitis, but the specific type of treatment will largely depend on the root cause. For example, dactylitis caused by arthritis and autoimmune disease often requires medication, physical therapy, and cortisone shots, while dactylitis caused by an infection requires antibiotics of some sort.
King Charles Has Yet to Address His Swollen Fingers
As social media users continue to roast King Charles over his swollen fingers, the newly-appointed King has remained mum to the noise. He has yet to address the chatter and is focused on his duties as King – after all, he has some big shoes to fill. And at 74 years old, he only has so much time to fill those shoes.
With that said, King Charles’ sausage fingers are nothing new and they’ve appeared to be swollen for several years now. While we can assume they aren’t swollen due to an infection – something he would’ve had treated a while ago – anything being said about his ‘sausage fingers’ is pure speculation at this point.
Aside from his fingers taking center stage, the growing rift between King Charles and his son, Prince Harry, is only getting worse. Harry attended the coronation on May 6, but wasn’t accompanied by his wife and didn’t receive as much attention as his brother, Prince William, and his wife, Kate Middleton.
New sources are telling The Daily Beast that William and Kate are trying to distance themselves from Harry and Meghan:
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“It’s very clear that William and Kate are now extremely important members of the institution, so their view on Harry, which is basically the further away the better, will have to be taken into account. Put it this way: I don’t think anyone expects Harry to get an invite to William’s coronation,” the source said.
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