CANBERRA – King Charles III paid a light-hearted tribute to the overdue Barry Humphries at a state memorial service Friday in Australia, recalling his personal apprehension when the comedian’s modify ego, Dame Edna Everage, performed a prank on him a decade in the past.
Video of the prank all through a Royal Variety Performance in London in 2013 was once broadly replayed after Humphries died in Sydney in April elderly 89.
Humphries, within the personality of the snobbish Everage, approached the then Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, as they sat within the theater’s royal field.
Everage seemed at her price tag then defined to the giggling royals prior to leaving: “I’m so sorry, they found me a better seat.”
Charles alluded to the shaggy dog story in a message learn by means of Australian Arts Minister Tony Burke at the memorial service within the Sydney Opera House.
“I suspect that all those who appeared on stage or on TV with Barry’s Dame Edna, or who found her appearing at the back of the royal box, will have shared that unique sensation where fear and fun combined,” Charles wrote, prompting laughter from the target market.
“Those who tried to stand on their dignity soon lost their footing. Those who wondered whether Australia’s housewife superstar might this time just go too far were always proved right. No one was safe,” Charles added.
Humphries’ comedian characters “poked and prodded us, exposed pretensions, punctured pomposity, surfaced insecurities but, most of all, made us laugh at ourselves,” Charles wrote.
Among celebrities who despatched video tributes to the Australian-born entertainer, who spent a long time in London, integrated composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and comedians Jimmy Carr, David Walliams and Rob Brydon. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese additionally paid tribute.