The King has celebrated his 76th birthday by visiting a food distribution hub as part of his drive to support charities feeding the nation.
A smiling Charles appeared on good form as he arrived at the Deptford Trading Estate in south London for the engagement on Thursday, without the Queen who is recovering from a chest infection.
Charles was opening the first Coronation Food Hub at the Deptford site, and a second one in Knowsley, Merseyside, virtually.
Volunteers from the Felix Project, who were dressed in the charity’s signature green and who will run the London hub, clapped and cheered the monarch and waved flags as he stepped from his Bentley.
The King gave a wide grin, waved at members of the public who had gathered to see him, before being greeted by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
Charles is treating his birthday as a normal working day despite facing a difficult year in which both he and daughter-in-law the Princess of Wales were diagnosed with cancer.
His visit celebrates the first anniversary of his Coronation Food Project, which he launched on his birthday last year in a bid to bridge the gap between food need and food waste in the UK amid the cost-of-living crisis.
The royal family has wished the King a happy birthday, with the Prince and Princess of Wales sharing a photo of the relaxed-looking monarch wearing sunglasses and a garland during a recent royal tour.
The monarchy’s official social media accounts posted a congratulatory message with a more formal portrait of the King standing in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.
William and Kate’s account shared an image of Charles in the sunshine during his recent long-haul overseas trip to Samoa as he was opening The King’s Garden at the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum in Apia.
The message read: “Wishing a very Happy Birthday to His Majesty The King!”
Wishing a very Happy Birthday to His Majesty The King! pic.twitter.com/blN48K7490
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) November 14, 2024
The King walked the red carpet on the eve of his birthday, meeting stars Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal at the glitzy global premiere of Gladiator II.
Gun salutes will be fired in Green Park by The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company as part of the military’s traditional celebrations on the sovereign’s birthday, and bells will be rung at Westminster Abbey where the King was crowned in 2023.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here