Fern Britton admits she got a 'kidney punch' from King Charles' protection officer

Former This Morning star Fern Britton has said that she received a punch to the kidney from one of the King's protection officers when she met the monarch during her teenage years.

In the early 2000s, she shot to fame after co-hosting This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield, but she has recently looked back to her younger days when she was trying to find her feet as an actor.

In a chat with Tim Lihoreau on the Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? podcast, the 68-year-old revealed how she used to write letters to the then Prince of Wales asking if he could attend any of her shows.

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While she admitted that she would always receive a response, it wasn’t until her 20s that she finally got the opportunity to meet the monarch while he was attending a money-raising event at Salisbury Cathedral.

But her once-in-a-lifetime moment didn’t go exactly according to plan after she claimed that she received a blow to the kidney as she approached His Highness: "There was one time when I did get a sort of kidney punch from one of his (King Charles') protection officers, because I was getting a bit too close with a microphone when he went to Salisbury, because he was raising money for the Salisbury Cathedral spire to be refixed."

And sharing more details on how the alleged incident unfolded, she explained: “I had a beautiful suit on and I was looking good.”

She continued: “I was in my early to mid-20s, and getting closer and closer and closer just to hear what he was saying to the crowd.”

The monarch then apparently glanced at one of his protection officers, and shortly after, she was struck. However, she admitted that she doesn’t think it was meant to be “that hard.”

Leaving her career in acting behind after leaving The Cambridge Theatre Company, she took her first steps into broadcasting in the 1980s when she took a local TV role in Plymouth.

While successfully landing a number of roles since then, it was in the 1990s that her career began to reach new heights.

In 1994, she was announced as presenter of Ready Steady Cook, but left the show shortly after becoming a full-time presenter on ITV’s This Morning, where she co-hosted until 2009.

The Palace has been approached for comment.