One year after the coronation of Charles III.
That’s what “Major Augenschmaus” is doing today
Johnny Thompson (r.) greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before his meeting with King Charles at Buckingham Palace.
© Kirsty O’Connor/PA Photos
At Charles’ coronation, his appearance was celebrated online. The hustle and bustle apparently became too much for Major Johnny Thompson.
At the Royals’ Easter service at the end of March, it wasn’t just the appearance of the cancer patient King Charles (75) for the joy of the fans. The secret star of the coronation a year earlier, Major Johnny Thompson (40), also made a now rare public appearance. The senior royal staffer was spotted at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle over Easter, wearing a suit instead of his regiment’s kilt. On X (formerly Twitter) some users were immediately happy about how “nice” it was to see him.
The Easter service was, according to British media reports, Thompson’s first major appearance since he stepped away from his public role after becoming a viral sensation.
In 2022, Major Johnny Thompson became an internet phenomenon
The hype surrounding the 40-year-old began before Charles’ coronation on May 6, 2023. In September 2022, footage of the soldier walking through the gates of Buckingham Palace dressed in a suit went viral on TikTok. The short clip has been viewed over eight million times. It says: “I saw ‘Major eye candy’.” The nickname, which roughly translates to “Major Eye Feast,” stuck with Thompson.
His popularity also increased and he became an internet phenomenon. Whenever he was seen in his kilt, hundreds of fans commented on his “dashing” looks on social media. At the coronation ceremony last year, the king’s close colleague watched over, among other things, his grandson Prince George (10) and Charles’ other three pages. Elsewhere, a video of Thompson assisting the monarch at Westminster Abbey, has been viewed over 115,000 times on X. An online retailer now had a tote bag in its range with the imprint “Major Johnny Thompson: my kilty pleasure”.
Was it too much attention?
Perhaps the hype around him was too much for Thompson. At the end of February 2024, the “Times” reported that the aide had accepted a new job with King Charles and Queen Camilla (76). A palace source told the newspaper that Thompson would continue to serve as a senior aide to the royal couple, but “in a less high-profile role.” Apparently the soldier “did not enjoy the public attention he received after attending several high-profile events with the King.”
Thompson is a member of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and first came into the spotlight in the summer of 2018 when he accompanied Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) to a battalion review at Balmoral Castle. He later became the queen’s highest-ranking bodyguard.
In a rare interview with the BBC, he spoke about the late queen, according to The Times. At the royal estate in Balmoral, he and his wife were invited to dine with Her Majesty, he said: “She immediately started making the salad dressing, setting the table, and the evening culminated in me dining with her did the dishes, which is a nice memory.”
From the Queen to Charles
After the Queen’s death, Major Johnny Thompson transferred to King Charles. He was present at some of the most important events in the first year of his reign, including the reception of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj (46) at Buckingham Palace in February 2023. Thompson also accompanied Charles and Camilla on their state visit to Germany shortly afterwards and ultimately took an important one Role in the coronation on May 6th at Westminster Abbey.
After the coronation, Thompson helped welcome US President Joe Biden (81) to Windsor Castle and accompanied the king and queen on their state visit to France and to Sandringham over Christmas.
Now Thompson doesn’t just have a new job away from the spotlight. Apparently there is also a new woman at his side. In February, he was photographed in London holding hands with a PR executive he said he met while working for the King and Queen. The Daily Mail reportedthat Thompson and his wife had separated about two years earlier.