Prince Charles and ‘Hitler’ Vladimir Putin Share Awkwardly Tense Moments On Stage

Prince Charles has traditionally been known to be courteous and charming, just like a prince should be. However, there were highly tense moments when he had to share the podium with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Though Prince Charles didn’t show his apprehensions and was his jovial self, one couldn’t but help notice subtle tension when he was to share space with the Russian President. The reason for the Prince of Wales to be apprehensive was sown by the Prince himself. You see, The Inquisitr had reported how Prince Charles had likened Vladimir Putin to the inhuman German dictator Hitler!

Last month, when Prince Charles was meeting Second World War veterans during a royal tour of Canada, he briefly spoke to an 87-year-old Jewish woman. During the brief interaction the prince told great-grandmother Marianne Ferguson, who lost many family members during the Holocaust, “And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler,” reported Mirror.

Prince Charles’ remark was clearly aimed at the Russia’s recent seizure of the Crimea – the first annexation by a major power in Europe since the end of the Second World War, reported The Telegraph. Russia has been openly accused of sending undercover military forces into eastern Ukraine under the pretext of protecting the Russian minority population.

Needless to say, Prince Charles’ remark was certainly very harsh and provoked a strong outrage in Moscow, where senior officials didn’t waste any time repeatedly pointing out that nearly 30 million Russians had laid down their lives while fighting the Hitler-led Nazis.

Subsequently, Prince Charles was openly criticized by Putin and he said the prince’s criticism of him was “not what monarchs do.” Mr. Putin accused the heir to the throne of “unacceptable” behavior unbefitting of a future king. The pro-Putin media in Russia added fuel to the fire by creatively linking the Royal Family to the Nazis.

Though the world leaders, who convened at the bi-national France-UK D-Day commemoration ceremony, secretly admired Prince Charles for his strong-worded intervention, everyone chose to keep mum on the issue and instead focused on the Queen. Their affiliation was quite apparent when Putin cut an isolated figure.

Interestingly, even when mere feet away from each other, the two did not make any eye-contact, but Prince Charles appeared to cast a watchful glance over the Russian President.

[Image Credit | Getty Images Europe, EPA, AFP, PA via Daily Mail]