Social media users are aghast after new photos of King Charles III showcase the monarch with a bizarre feature. In the now-viral photo, the king’s fingers look swollen and unhealthy, leading some people to question whether King Charles III is healthy enough to reign as monarch of the United Kingdom. Although critics are not sure about the health of King Charles III, others believe that his swollen fingers signify little other than the fact that he had a busy day.

In the viral photo of the new king, Charles III was captured holding his hands in front of his jacket. He seems to be touching his two index fingers together and is wearing a golden ring on his pinkie finger. The ring appears to be too small for the king’s swollen digits, which drew a number of comments from users on Reddit where the photo appeared. The post of the king’s fingers was uploaded to Reddit with the simple caption “The Kings fingers” without the apostrophe. The post received more than fifteen thousand upvotes as well as thousands of comments from people across the entire globe.

“That ring is holding on for dear life.”

“Can he please take the ring off?”

Others suggested that the new king might be suffering from high blood pressure.

“He’s running 32psi boost.”

“In humans, we say 180/120.”

Some Reddit users expressed their fears that King Charles III might not be long for this world. But if he is anything like his mother, he is sure to be around for a while yet.

“That’s a sign for a not-very-long-reign… because it’s heart disease.”

“Or kidney failure,” another Reddit user added. “I’m sure someone has a betting pool over what is actually causing the edema, lol.”

Some people even expressed weird conspiracy theories about the king’s swollen fingers.

“He’s had these fingers for a long, long time, though. My personal theory is that he has ten fingers per hand and wears gloves so as to not terrify the townspeople.”

One person suggested that the king might not be suffering from heart disease but arthritis instead.

“I’m basically a doctor (I googled “red nose ears sausage fingers,” so don’t @ me. I did my research). This is likely either arthritis or some long-term, well-managed autoimmune condition. I’ve found weak references back to 1982 when Charles wrote about it in a letter. I found a better reference from 2005 where it’s directly referenced.”

Another user suggested that the king has been dealing with swollen fingers for decades.

“I watched a Diana documentary recently, and his fingers looked like that when he was in his 30s too. So either he’s had whatever disease his entire life (very possible,) or he’s just got crazy ham hands.”

So what is the real reason behind King Charles III’s swollen fingers? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we can all enjoy this viral photo of the new king.

Do you think the King’s fingers look strange?