King ‘wants a royal hip-hop lesson’ after being wowed by performance during surprise Belfast visit
Charles is taking part in celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of The King’s Trust
The King has requested hip-hop lessons after a dance display during celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of The King’s Trust on Tuesday.
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The King has requested hip-hop lessons after a dance display during celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of The King’s Trust on Tuesday.
During an unannounced visit to Belfast, Charles met young people and business owners supported by the charity he founded at the Odyssey Complex.
An energetic performance by nine students from hip-hop school Urban Motion seemed to inspire his desire to dance.
"He wants us to teach him how to do hip-hop," said King’s Trust ambassador Jamie Fagan. “He wants a royal hip-hop lesson, in his words.”
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Mr Fagan founded Urban Motion through The King’s Trust enterprise programme six years ago.
He now has 1,000 students enrolled in classes throughout Northern Ireland, England and Ireland and said he “never would have imagined that we’d be here now”.
One of those students, 15-year-old Cuan Gallagher, said performing for the royal guest was “surreal”.
“I mean, when I started, I never thought I’d get to meet the King and dance in front of him,” he added.
Charles was introduced to a number of young people supported by the organisation, who showed off the skills and products they have developed.
While some have well-established enterprises others, such as Shannon Dharmaratne, are just starting out.
The 29-year-old will launch her range of inclusive teddy bears in two weeks.
The teddycare line will include stuffed toys with cochlear implants and picc lines (which deliver medicine through a vein) and a weighted bear specially designed for neurodivergent children.
“He said I was a very brave girl, which I actually really love,” she said.
“Some days I don’t feel brave but I think if the King tells you you’re brave, you listen to him.”
It means “the absolute world” the King celebrated the milestone in Belfast, the King’s Trust's Northern Ireland director said.
Mark Dougan said his team works “incredibly hard” to help more than 10,000 young people in Northern Ireland every year.
He said: “For our founder to spend time with us here this morning and celebrate our work is just astonishing.
“It’s so, so important that we recognise the achievements of young people and indeed the community that is the King’s Trust that helps young people.”
Earlier in the day, the King and Queen drummed up a thirst for whiskey when they performed with a folk group during a celebration of Irish music, song and dance.
Charles and Camilla were hailed as “naturals” as they played bodhran drums – after a quick lesson – while dancers gave a Riverdance-style performance in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.
A few minutes later the couple were sipping Irish whiskey produced by Titanic Distillers, a new company that has transformed an Edwardian pumphouse, next to a dry dock famed for holding the Titanic, into a distillery.
In the distillery, Charles and Camilla were given a guided tour of the premises, which have retained the plant’s huge pumping equipment that adds to the atmosphere.
They were later offered glasses of a blended Irish whiskey and Camilla said: “It’s really quite strong – a nice warming feeling.”
She made her comments to Peter Lavery, the former Belfast bus driver who famously had a £10.2 million Lottery win exactly 30 years ago on Monday and is a founder and partner of the whiskey business.
The Queen joked after taking a sip of a second whiskey, a five-year-old pot still, pretending to look a little giddy and smiled for the cameras.
Mr Lavery said after the visit: “This was an unbelievable honour, a wee bit of luck for us in Belfast and good for tourism.”