Dame Cindy Kiro addresses media in London to convey a heartfelt message from the new King ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday. Video / Adam Pearse
An Auckland butchery has made a light-hearted dig at King Charles III and his "sausage fingers".
Avon's Butchery, located in the East Auckland suburb of Glen Innes, took to social media on Wednesday, promoting their new limited-time-only sausage, "King Charles Sausage Fingers" in a series of posts.
The Glen Innes butchery has been winning sausage awards since 2002 for various flavours and hopes that their new royal-inspired pork and beef with mustard, black pepper and salt flavour will do the same.
An Auckland butchery has made a light-hearted dig at King Charles III and his 'sausage fingers'. Photo / Pool / AP
The butcher's sign advertising his King Charles specials. Photo / Supplied
"We plan to sell them just throughout the weekend - we are hoping for an increase in customers wanting to try our award-winning sausages," they said.
The butchery said that the store's owner found himself looking at images of the King's fingers and thought the reference would be quite a light-hearted approach to all the drama unfolding in the United Kingdom.
The first of the posts was a photo of King Charles, his hands replaced with sausages and captioned: "I'm going to hell".
The King Charles sausage finger meme. Photo / Supplied
"Almost every customer that has come in has commented - I think the joke has been pretty well received," said a butchery spokesperson.
The new monarch has reportedly previously joked about the size of his digits, referring to them as "sausage fingers" in a letter to a friend after the birth of Prince William and while he was touring Australia in 2012.
Dr Gareth Nye, a senior lecturer at the UK's University of Chester, told the Daily Star there are several health conditions that could be causing Charles' swollen fingers.
Nye said that while there were many possible causes, some were more probable than others, such as oedema, or fluid retention.
"Oedema is a condition where the body starts to retain fluids in the limbs, normally the legs and ankles but also in the fingers, which causes them to swell," Nye said.
"Oedema is a common condition and mostly affects people over the age of 65 as the ability for fluid control is restricted."
Another potential cause for the swelling was arthritis.
"Arthritis - another common condition in the over 60s. It often affects three main areas in the hand - the thumb joint or either joints in the fingers," Nye said.
"Fingers usually become stiff, painful and swollen and although medication can help with the pain, the swelling can remain.
"Uncommon causes may include high salt diet leading to fluid retention. Certain medications can rarely lead to swelling as a side effect, such as with blood pressure medications or steroid medications."
