When I'm cleaning windows...at the Palace. Charles plays ukulele on Northern Ireland trip
The King jammed out with a local ukulele ensemble on the final day of his Northern Ireland tour
King Charles strummed peacefully on a ukulele as he joined a local ukulele group for a musical interlude on the final day of his Northern Ireland tour.
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The King chose the unlikely spot of an allotment to strum the mini stringed instrument contentedly with the Loughries Men’s Shed Ukulele Ensemble in the town of Newtownards.
The King looked perfectly at ease and kept up with the ensemble, as he held the ukulele almost in a style reminiscent of one of its best known players, George Formby.
Charles and Camilla have spent the past three days touring Northern Ireland and they ended their stay in Conway Square where hundreds turned out to see them meet local craftspeople and retailers.
Queen Camilla enjoyed a cone of freshly made vanilla ice cream from a mobile cart run by Michael Cafolla, whose business was started just over a 100 years ago by his Italian immigrant grandfather.
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She took a wafer to dip into the vanilla flavoured treat and joked: “Can I stay here, can I stay and eat” and quipped the cone was her “lunch”.
Mr Cafolla said afterwards: “We make a fresh batch of ice cream every morning. My grandfather Giuseppe would have whisked it by hand but now we use modern machinery.
“The Queen told me she could stay here a bit longer. It’s amazing she came over and she really enjoyed it.”
During his day in Co Down, Charles whipped up a stir when he helped mix a gluten-free chocolate cake at the Warehouse centre in Newtownards, a former pub repurposed as a volunteer-supported facility providing free food supplies and meals to people in need.
While the King was on baking duty, Camilla learned about the hub’s “blind date with a book” initiative that encourages people to try new genres of books by picking ones with their covers concealed by wrapping paper.
At a separate event, the Queen praised a group of people who work and volunteer with survivors of domestic abuse including representatives from Women’s Aid in North Down and Ards, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, food banks and Community NI.
She also spoke with survivors of domestic abuse and their children.
Making an impromptu speech to those she met, the Queen said their work is “more important than ever because domestic abuse is coming to the fore more and more, it’s not hidden any longer, it’s talked about, and it’s only through people like all of you that we hopefully can do a lot to put an end to it all with everyone working together”.