King Charles gives cheeky eye-roll to well-wishers as they sing 'Happy Birthday'
King Charles offered his birthday guests doggie bags of cake as he was serenaded by a choir to celebrate his 75th birthday.
The monarch joined a host of people at his Gloucestershire home Highgrove, from community stalwarts nominated by friends and family who are also turning 75 this year, to representatives from organisations marking the same milestone, from the NHS to members of the Windrush generation.
Handed a large knife, Charles cut the cake at the party as the Rock Choir and around 60 guests sang to congratulate him a day before reaching the milestone.
Charles, who clocks up three-quarters of a century tomorrow joked with the crowd as peered inside the Victoria sponge cake after cutting it open.
King Charles III next to a birthday cake during his 75th birthday party at Highgrove Gardens (PA)“It’s always fun to have a look,” he said, before urging guests to eat the cake up. “Who can I donate it to? Can we get rid of it? We need to give you doggie bags,” he added.
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The King will tomorrow undertake engagements across London before hosting a private celebration at his former Clarence House home with friends and a small number of family members.
In the Orchard Room, the visitors’ tea room in the Highgrove gardens, they listened to West Country-based members of the Rock Choir performing classic hits and 14-year-old local musician Bill Goulding, a regular visitor to the King’s country retreat, playing tunes, including his special birthday composition for the monarch, on the piano.
King Charles cuts a birthday cake (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Among the famous faces at the event on grounds of the King's Highgrove home in Gloucestershire were celebrity chef Raymond Blanc, The Repair Shop host Jay Blades and singer Leee John from the 1980s group Imagination.
When the King arrived the choir were singing Hallelujah by the late Leonard Cohen, one of the King’s favourite performers.
Edna Henry, one of a number of guests at the party who sat for portraits of the Windrush generation in a project overseen by the King, congratulated him on turning 75. “So are a lot of other people here, which is far more important,” the King said modestly.
A local choir sang Happy Birthday for the head of state at the end of the cream tea party, and after debating which of the three tiers of the Victoria sponge to cut Charles opted for the bottom.
King Charles III talking to Jay Blades (PA)He was cheered and applauded after cutting a slice holding up the knife in celebration and peering at the sweet treat.
Blades, an ambassador for the King's Foundation, paid tribute to Charles, saying: "He's the new King but he's also about community, he's always been about community, always been forward thinking about what we're doing about the environment but also including community members.
"So to have this group of people here, that's just unbelievable - that's part of him, that's what he does."
King Charles III's meeting a guest as he attends his 75th birthday party (PA)Aides said the King had wanted to make his birthday about others so had invited community champions in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somerset - local stalwarts nominated by other people - also turning 75 this year to the party.
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The celebration also marked other 75th anniversaries taking place this year, including the arrival of the first post-war immigrants from the Caribbean on the Empire Windrush and the NHS’s 75th anniversary. A similar birthday party was also held for the local community at Dumfries House, the King’s home in Ayrshire.
Many of the faces were familiar to him, not least Peter Newell, from Heywood in Wiltshire, who was with his wife Marilyn, both turning 75 this year.
Mr Newell, who formerly worked for Southern Electricity, helped in the construction of the Orchard Room back in 1999. “I was actually in charge of getting the electricity to it,” he said. “So I spent a lot of time here. I first came here in 1980.”
He enjoyed his dealings with the then Prince Charles, who was hands-on with the project. “He was very good,” he said and told how they had agreed today that they would both try to make it to 100. I said to him I’m hoping he is going to give me a card for 100. He said: ‘I’ll do my best.’”
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