Press Pass 38: King Charles III Visits M*A*S*H Set (1977)

M*A*S*H was a popular show in its original run, and its popularity went beyond the United States. The series found audiences in other countries including Canada, Australia, France, and the United Kingdom. In the UK, there was one fan of the show that might surprise you: King Charles III. At the time, he was the Prince of Wales, and in a tour of the United States in October 1977, King Charles III made a stop at Twentieth Century Fox in Los Angeles to visit the set of M*A*S*H. There are a few photos from his visit online, and this week were are going to look at a press photo from the set visit and discuss the time a future king visited the set of M*A*S*H.

On October 18, 1977, King Charles III landed in Chicago to begin a nine day tour of the United States. He visited ten cities over the course of the visit, and Los Angeles was towards the end of the trip. On October 27, he visited Los Angeles, and he wanted to attend the filming of two shows: Charlie’s Angels and M*A*S*H. Reportedly, he was able to stop by the sets of both shows before he wrapped up his tour in California. King Charles III left the United States on October 29 after touring the state capital and meeting with California’s governor. The trip was his first official tour of the United States, and it was a follow-up to a visit that his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had made in 1976 for the United States’ bicentennial celebration.

This press photo shows King Charles III talking to Alan Alda on set, and the caption on the back of the press photo says, “Prince Charles of England, during his recent visit to the United States, chats with Alan Alda (right) on the set of M*A*S*H, one of his favorite television series, while Alda, who plays Hawkeye, was filming a two-part episode, the first half of which will be broadcast Tuesday, Dec. 6 (9:00-9:30 PM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.” It is interesting that they call out the fact that King Charles III was a fan of the series, and that they discuss the episode that was being filmed at the time. Since they mention that it was a two-part episode, we can conclude that the episodes being filmed during his visit were “Comrades in Arms (Part 1)” (06×12) and “Comrades in Arms (Part 2)” (06×13). I wonder which scenes he was able to watch them film?

Visitors to the sets of television shows were pretty common at this time, especially for a series as popular as M*A*S*H. Friends, family, other actors, politicians, and even the President of the United States visited the M*A*S*H set, but there are not many shows that can say that a future king visited their set. It has been reported that King Charles III and his mother were both fans of M*A*S*H, so it makes sense that visiting the set of the show would be high on his to-do list while in Los Angeles. I am not surprised that CBS publicized the visit, but I do find it ironic that they used the fact that the future King of England visited the set as part of the advertising campaign for “Comrades in Arms (Part 1)!”