King Charles listened to rap music and was joined by Sir Elton John for a special musical performance today during a visit to Battersea Power Station, Apple's UK headquarters.
The King was greeted by Apple's CEO Tim Cook and saw a new collaboration between the tech giant and his King's Trust. The project provides training workshops across creative industries led by Apple's experts so young people develop the skills they need for employment.
King meets rapper Princess
Among those the King was introduced to was Princess, a London rapper who makes music in her bedroom and has already completed the Trust's 'Get Started in Music' programme. She told the King: "I'm into producing, I'm a writer and a rapper." Charles replied: "Ah, a rapper, fantastic."
Prophet Guillory, head of artist services at Apple, told the monarch: "She actually finished a song. I don't know if we want to play it to His Majesty, this is a special moment, she brought her hard-drive and finished her vocals in her room last night."
"What, at three o'clock in the morning?" the King joked. The group then listened to the track, which included the lyric: "I'm a Princess, and I need my King," which amused Charles. "To squeeze the words in, you need to be really clever, don't you?" he said.
Sir Elton John joins performance
Afterwards, the King made his way to Apple's new Music Hall venue at the power station, where he met Sir Elton and posed for a group photo with Cook and some of the young people on the Creative Labs programme.
Cook thanked the King and Sir Elton and said: "It is such a privilege to be engaged with the King's Trust on this project today." Addressing the young people, he said: "I saw your work, I heard your work, you guys are fantastic, you have such great potential, and you have the power to change the world with your art and your music."
Cook then introduced the "incredible performer" Skye Newman, who has been championed by Sir Elton, to perform her song "Crawling" for a soundcheck in the music hall watched by the King, who sat alongside Sir Elton, Cook and Jonathan Townsend, the Trust's chief executive.
King's Trust partnership
Apple has supported the King's Trust, now marking its 50th year, since 2019. The creative labs project aims to expand the workshops across Apple TV, Apple Podcasts and Apple's other industries.
The King's Trust says it has helped more than 1.3 million young people across the UK as part of its commitment to ending youth unemployment and helping more young people create better futures for themselves.
Jonathan Townsend, the King's Trust's UK chief executive, said: "Together with Apple, we have already opened up valuable opportunities for thousands of young people across the UK through our longstanding partnership. We are proud to build on this work with the Creative Labs program, an exciting new chapter in our partnership that will help even more young people develop the confidence and creative digital skills they need to take their next steps towards employment. We cannot wait to see how they use these experiences to realize their potential and discover where their talents can take them."
