King Charles is easily one of the most recognizable people on the planet, which is why it's hard to believe a photo exists of him in which he actually looks, well, unrecognizable.
As fellow royals and royal fans took to social media to wish the monarch a happy birthday (FYI: he turns 77 today), elsewhere online, an old photo of Charles resurfaced. In it, the then-Prince of Wales is dressed in a disguise to fool paparazzi who were following him on a ski holiday in Klosters, Switzerland.
The photo, which has rarely been seen—trust me, I write about the royals daily and even I've never seen it!—was taken in 1980 and shows Charles with a fake nose, mustache, glasses, and a hat.
Charles' efforts to disguise himself didn't go to plan, however, as photographs of the royal in the disguise made even more of a splash in the press at the time. Luckily, he was able to see the funny side of it, and even posed with the paparazzi when they returned the favor by dressing up themselves.
This isn't the first time that members of the Royal Family have used a disguise to avoid being spotted in public. Prince William and Kate Middleton previously wore wigs to a screening of Toy Story 3, while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle used Halloween costumes to sneak off on a night on the town when they first started dating.
More historically, Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson dressed up as police officers for the former Duchess of York's bachelorette party and ended up getting arrested for impersonating police. Even the late Queen herself has gone out incognito to avoid being noticed. Princess Elizabeth, then 19, and her sister Princess Margaret, 14, enjoyed a remarkable night out together to celebrate VE Day, with the Queen later describing it as "one of the most memorable nights of my life."
