King Charles celebrates milestone birthday with go to to Coronation Food Hub | EUROtoday

Get the free Morning Headlines e mail for information from our reporters internationally

Sign as much as our free Morning Headlines e mail

Sign as much as our free Morning Headlines e mail

King Charles marked his 76th birthday with a go to to a charity undertaking aiming to finish meals poverty.

Arriving at Deptford Trading Estate in south London on Thursday, the monarch appeared in good spirits as he opened the primary Coronation Food Hub on-site and inaugurated a second in Knowsley, Merseyside, by way of video hyperlink.

Volunteers from The Felix Project, who will handle the Deptford hub, cheered and waved flags because the King stepped out of his Bentley and was greeted by London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Schoolchildren from Peckham’s Rye Oak Primary School introduced a selfmade birthday card and sang “Happy Birthday” and he later took time to talk with the youngsters, who will profit from the hub.

Asked if he’d be stress-free for his birthday, he replied with a smile, “Not quite.”

Members of the royal household, in the meantime, marked the King’s birthday with public tributes, together with the Prince and Princess of Wales who wished him a cheerful birthday on Twitter/X and shared {a photograph} of a relaxed Charles from his latest tour of Samoa.

open picture in gallery

The monarchy’s official social media accounts additionally despatched its birthday needs alongside a proper portrait of the King within the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.

Charles, nonetheless, handled the day as enterprise as normal, selecting to give attention to royal duties amid a difficult yr for the household, throughout which each he and the Princess of Wales have battled most cancers.

His go to highlighted the primary anniversary of the Coronation Food Project, an initiative launched on his birthday final yr to handle meals insecurity and deal with waste amid the rising price of dwelling.

Since its launch, the undertaking has rescued an estimated 940 tonnes of surplus meals – equal to greater than two million meals – and raised greater than £15m. These funds are earmarked to assist the institution of as much as 10 Coronation Food Hubs nationwide, a part of a community designed to alleviate meals poverty throughout the UK.

open picture in gallery

The Coronation Food Project, launched by the King final yr, goals to bridge the hole between meals waste and wish throughout the UK by growing surplus meals rescue, strengthening distribution networks, and establishing a versatile funding programme for the broader sector.

According to a progress report, the initiative has made “significant and tangible progress” in the direction of these targets, working with accomplice charities The Felix Project and FareShare.

The Felix Project – based by The unbiased shareholder Justin Byam Shaw in reminiscence of his son Felix, who handed away from meningitis at 14 – redistributes recent surplus meals from supermarkets and eating places to charities tackling meals poverty.

open picture in gallery

Since its launch with simply two distribution vans in 2016, it has turn into London’s largest meals redistribution charity, supplying meals for tens of tens of millions of meals yearly.

It was additionally named a beneficiary of The Independent‘s 2022 On The Breadline Christmas appeal, with funds pledged by the King helping to equip hundreds of food charities with refrigeration units across London.

In earlier efforts, The Independent and the Evening Standard partnered with The Felix Project for the Help the Hungry appeal, raising over £10m to support the nation’s most weak through the pandemic.