The King and Queen teamed up to cut into a commemorative cake with a sword as they visited the Eden Project in Cornwall today.
Charles, 77, and Camilla, 78, were welcomed to the popular attraction to mark its 25th anniversary and enjoyed a tour around the environmental project to learn about its innovative work and goals for the future.
Armed with a sword, the royal couple giggled as they sliced a street party-themed Victoria sponge at a slightly wonky angle after touring parts of the Cornish ecological centre that opened in 2001.
A cake showing a street scene of tiny characters enjoying lunch at tables or volunteering in front of a row of houses marked the June event, and Colonel Sir Edward Bolitho, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, handed his sword over to the couple.
As they were shown around the Eden Project, Charles, a former Duke of Cornwall who has visited the site a number of times, said: ‘I remember when I first came here there was nothing – amazing how it’s developed and grown.’
There was laughter when they first arrived at the landmark Millennium initiative that transformed a clay pit with massive geodesic biomes featuring plant life from around the world to highlight humanity’s reliance on nature.
The King’s state limousine made a wrong turn on the sprawling site and disappeared before doubling back, and Charles quipped as he stepped from the vehicle: ‘Now you see us, now you don’t.’
As the pair arrived, they were welcomed by pupils who sang from nearby Luxulyan School and sought to learn more about the Eden Project’s world-famous biomes and the centre’s role in the community.
During their visit, the King and Queen viewed a section of the 100-metre new marble run and spoke with gardeners and members of staff to learn about the project’s wildflower habitat restoration.
Their Majesties were even given specially crafted ‘wooden’ marbles to send down the run and later take home with them, with quick-witted Charles making a humorous joke: ‘That’s one way of losing your marbles.’
The royals also joined a celebratory lunch where they met with local volunteers who are involved in the upcoming Big Lunch and Big Help Out weekend running from June 5 to June 8.
Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project, said: ‘The world has changed since we built Eden. Everybody now knows about climate change. Everybody knows about the impact of all the bad things on the world.
‘But at the same time, we’ve got a brilliant generation of young people all over the world coming through who deserve us oldsters to grow up and stop being depressed about it and to get excited that the future still remains us.’
Later that day, during a visit to the Market House in St Austell town centre, the King had a go at pulling a pint of the alcohol-free Proper Job 0.5% ale.
Shortly before holding up his effort to the cameras and taking a sip, the King and Queen reunited, and Camilla was seen informing her husband: ‘We’ve come from the other direction. I was told I must catch up with you.’
The royal couple then travelled to St Austell and met local community groups in the Holy Trinity Church.
While Charles met teenagers and adults from the Young People Cornwall organisation and faith leaders, Camilla chatted with school children, staff and volunteers from the town’s library.
As reception age children from Mount Charles Primary School in St Austell sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to her, Camilla watched on fondly and shared in their clapping.
Charles and Camilla then walked a short distance to the Grade II-listed Market House to hear about regeneration plans for the building and local area.
Afterwards, they went outside to meet some of the hundreds of well-wishers who had lined Market Hill to catch a glimpse of the couple.
The visit by the King and Queen comes following the announcement that the King had accepted an invitation to be a patron of the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which monitors anti-Semitism and provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK.
The development was announced by Conservative peer Lord Finkelstein at the start of the charity’s annual fundraising dinner on Monday evening.
Charles did not attend the event himself, although his senior equerry Lt Col Johnny Thompson was present on his behalf, along with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.
The CST said the King’s acceptance of its invitation highlighted ‘His Majesty’s long-standing support for the UK’s Jewish community and the wider fight against anti-Semitism’.
It added that the monarch’s ‘long-standing commitment to promoting tolerance, inclusion and interfaith understanding aligns closely with CST’s mission to protect British Jews’.
Charles previously praised the CST’s ‘wonderful work’ during a visit to Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester in October last year, shortly after two worshippers were stabbed to death in an anti-Semitic terror attack.
Buckingham Palace has yet to comment on the King’s new appointment, which comes just hours after a Jewish volunteer service in north-west London was targeted in an arson attack in the early hours of Monday.
