It was at the signing ceremony at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland that the new King, sharp with grief and exhausted from travelling around the UK, got frustrated by a leaking pen. “Oh God I hate this!” he said, as he offloaded the offending object to his wife. “I can’t bear this bloody thing!” he moaned, wiping his fingers on a generous handkerchief. “Every stinking time!” he exclaimed, as one of his minders hastily ushered him away from the cameras.