THE NEW monarch has been a regular visitor to the Midlands during his life as a royal, gracing numerous events, milestones and openings with his presence.
In July last year he officially opened the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen.
Picture by Marcus Mingins.
He has visited Birmingham numerous times over the years but has also been to Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
In May, 2021, he visited Warwickshire and Coventry which – at the time – was enjoying its year as the City of Culture,
During a packed whistlestop tour, the then Prince Charles and Camilla – the Duchess of Cornwall at the time – began their trip at Coventry Cathedral which celebrated the 59th anniversary of its Consecration year.
They were given a tour by the Bishop of Coventry, the Rt Rev Dr Christopher Cocksworth, before The Prince laid a wreath and lit candles during a short service which included a recital of the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation – an act of solidarity and remembrance.
They also visited the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, watching performances by artists involved in the UK City of Culture and viewed the 2-Tone Lives and Legacies exhibition. At the Coventry Church Municipal Charities Bond’s Hospital, the 75th anniversary of The Almshouse Association – of which Charles is patron – was celebrated.
Meanwhile the Duchess visited Coventry Central Library to meet service users taking part in activities offered there.
The Prince of Wales, also Patron of the Canal and River Trust, visited the new Daimler Powerhouse to meet artists creating outdoor and site-specific creative work and travelled along the canal on Scorpio – a working heritage boat – to Coventry Canal Basin. He met local community groups helping look after the canal en route.
One person who has met His Royal Highness – not once but twice – is Coventry’s modern day Lady Godiva Pru Porretta MBE.
She met him 16 years ago outside the Coventry Muslim Resource Centre and, in May 2021, she had the honour of meeting him again.
Pru has always been one to promote the city’s talent and showed His Royal Highness a beautiful rainbow of hope created by her grandson Clement who she refers to as her ‘Little Prince Charming’. During the 2021 visit, she also gave him a picture created by a Coventry girl called Rosie for Her Majesty The Queen.
She said back in 2021: “It was lovely to speak individually with HRH Prince Charles and he was very happy to hear about the work of The Godiva Trust in Coventry.”
In February 2020, the then Prince of Wales headed to the University of Warwick to open the £150million National Automotive Innovation Centre – one of Europe’s largest automotive research and development centres.
It was a partnership project created by Jaguar Land Rover, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Tata Motors and the University of Warwick with funding from the government’s Research Partnership Investment Fund, through Research England.
During that visit the Prince also went to Stratford-upon-Avon to see first-hand the ongoing project to transform the RSC’s costume workshop.
The Waterside workshop, opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre underwent a £9million restoration and redevelopment some 70 years after it first opened.
The revamp included the conservation and extension of the historic Grade II listed buildings and a new entrance created using the former doors built for the original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1887.
In 2019 Prince Charles journeyed to the black cab London EV Company’s R&D Centre and Manufacturing Plant at Ansty Park in between Coventry and Rugby, touring the centre and meeting employees.
In July 2017, The Prince of Wales enjoyed the sounds of Worcestershire composer Sir Edward Elgar during a Three Choirs Festival masterpiece at Worcester Cathedral.
His Royal Highness, who is president of the Three Choirs Festival Association, joined an audience of 1,000 music lovers from around the world to hear Elgar’s stirring oratorio, Dream of Gerontius at the concert.
Sir Edward Elgar himself had conducted the piece’s first ever full Three Choirs Festival performance in 1902 in the cathedral.
The 2017 performance was conducted by English National Opera music director Martyn Brabbins and featured the 150-strong
Three Choirs Festival Chorus and Worcester Cathedral Girl Choristers, together with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
After the performance and before leaving the venue, Prince Charles met members of the Worcester Three Choirs Festival committee, trustees and staff of the charity, supporters of the evening’s event and some of the performers.
Afterwards Michael Clarke, the then Chairman of the Worcester Three Choirs Festival, said: “It was a huge privilege for all of us involved in the Three Choirs Festival to welcome the Prince of Wales, and perform Dream of Gerontius at the very location where Elgar himself conducted its first Festival performance in 1902.”
These are just a few of the highlights of when King Charles and Camilla – in their roles as Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall – visited.
And we very much hope we will be welcoming them to our towns and cities again – this time as King and Queen.
