The King strummed a ukulele while the Queen devoured an Italian ice cream cone during a whirlwind final day of a visit to Northern Ireland. Charles and Camilla have spent the past three days touring the region, ending their stay in Conway Square where hundreds turned out to see them meet local craftspeople and retailers.
Ukulele performance at an allotment
Charles tried his hand at playing the mini stringed instrument in an unlikely spot – an allotment – joining a ukulele group of more than a dozen players in the town of Newtownards. The King kept up with the Loughries Men’s Shed Ukulele Ensemble and seemed to enjoy the moment as he held the ukulele almost in the style of one of its best known players, George Formby.
Charles is not the only royal with musical aspirations as some of his grandchildren are learning to play instruments. Prince Louis is a would-be drummer, Princess Charlotte a budding pianist, while Prince George is believed to have taken up the guitar.
Ice cream treat for the Queen
Ice cream seller Michael Cafolla, whose business was started just over a 100 years ago by his Italian immigrant grandfather, gave the Queen a cone of ice cream from a mobile cart, freshly made that morning. She took a wafer to dip into the vanilla flavoured treat and joked: “Can I stay here, can I stay and eat?” and quipped the cone was her “lunch”. At one point she handed it to her equerry then took it back to have some more ice cream before moving on to another stall.
Mr Cafolla said afterwards: “We make a fresh batch of ice cream every morning. My grandfather Giuseppe would have whisked it by hand but now we use modern machinery. The Queen told me she could stay here a bit longer. It’s amazing she came over and she really enjoyed it.”
