King Charles has celebrated his 76th birthday by visiting a food charity project as part of his drive to support organisations working to end food poverty.
Arriving at Deptford Trading Estate in south London on Thursday, the monarch appeared in good spirits as he opened the first Coronation Food Hub on-site and inaugurated a second in Knowsley, Merseyside, via video link.
Volunteers from the Felix Project, who will manage the Deptford hub, cheered and waved flags as the King stepped out of his Bentley. London mayor Sadiq Khan greeted him before schoolchildren from Peckham’s Rye Oak Primary School presented a homemade birthday card and sang “Happy Birthday.”
Taking time to sit with the children, who will benefit from the hub, Charles chatted with them about their favourite foods and school lunches. Asked if he’d be relaxing for his birthday, he replied with a smile, “Not quite.”
Members of the royal family also wished the King a happy birthday, with the Prince and Princess of Wales sharing a photo of a relaxed-looking Charles wearing sunglasses and a garland during his recent tour to Samoa.
The monarchy’s official social media accounts posted a message alongside a more formal portrait of the King standing in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.
Charles is treating his birthday as a normal working day despite facing a difficult year in which both he and his 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 project has so far saved 940 tonnes of surplus food – the equivalent of more than two million meals, according to an annual impact report.
Since its inception, more than £15 million has been raised to design, build and run a future network of up to 10 Coronation Food Hubs across the UK.
The project aims to bridge the gap between food waste and food need across the UK, by saving more surplus food, supercharging food distribution networks and delivering a flexible funding programme to support the wider sector.
The initiative, which partners with The Felix Project and FareShare, has made “significant and tangible progress towards achieving” its goals, the report said.
The Felix Project, founded by Justin Byam Shaw, who is a shareholder in The Independent, was set up in memory of his son, who passed away suddenly from meningitis at the age of 14.
The charity redistributes fresh surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants to local charities tackling food poverty. It started with two food distribution vans in 2016 and has grown to be the biggest charity of its kind in London, supplying food for tens of millions of meals each year.
It was earmarked to be a beneficiary of The Independent’s 2022 On The Breadline Christmas appeal, and money pledged by the King to the campaign was used to help The Felix Project supply fridges and freezers to hundreds of food charities in London.
The Independent and its sister titleThe Evening Standard previously partnered with The Felix Project for our Help the Hungry appeal, which raised more than £10m to feed the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable people during the pandemic.
