King Charles is commemorating his 75th birthday with a business-as-usual approach, featuring the launch of a project aimed at assisting those facing food poverty.
As part of his birthday plans, the King will receive a transatlantic phone call from his younger son, Prince Harry.
The day’s activities will also include hosting a reception for NHS nurses and midwives, with ceremonial gun salutes scheduled at prominent locations, including the Tower of London.
Emphasizing public service over extravagant celebrations, the King’s engagements will focus on the launch of the Coronation Food Project. This initiative aims to address the dual challenge of rising food insecurity among people unable to afford essentials and the wastage of millions of tonnes of surplus food.
While there will be a private dinner for close family and friends, the gesture of a birthday phone call from Prince Harry is seen by some as a potential olive branch, especially amidst previous claims of no contact regarding the birthday plans.
Highlighting the campaign in an article in the Big Issue magazine, the King said: “Food need is as real and urgent a problem as food waste.”
The King told the magazine that “cost-of-living pressures” were resulting in “too many families and individuals missing out on nutritious meals”.
The Coronation Food Project seeks to establish distribution hubs that connect surplus food with food banks and charities, facilitating the distribution of food parcels to those in need.
“There are one in five people in this country that are suffering what charities call ‘food insecurity’ – to me, they’re ‘hungry’,” says Baroness Louise Casey, co-chair of the project.
“People are going without meals,” she says.
“There are one in five people in this country that are suffering what charities call ‘food insecurity’ – to me, they’re ‘hungry’,” says Baroness Louise Casey, co-chair of the project.
“People are going without meals,” she says.
On Tuesday evening, an animation promoting the Coronation Food Project will be showcased on the digital advertising hoardings at Piccadilly Circus in London.
The launch of a food-sharing project on the King’s birthday holds historical significance. When Prince Charles was born on November 14, 1948, post-war Britain still faced food rationing.
To mark the birth of Princess Elizabeth’s first child, a scheme was initiated to provide a gift food parcel to families with children born on the same day. Records from the National Archives indicate that over 2,600 gift parcels, containing items such as soap, butter, dried egg, honey, marmalade, bacon, and beef, were distributed during this era of austerity.
King Charles celebrated his 75th birthday by hosting a party at his residence, Highgrove in Gloucestershire, on Monday. He also commemorated the 75th anniversary of organizations, including the NHS, inviting 400 nurses and midwives to a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
In a symbolic move of maintaining an active role, King Charles rebranded his charities as the King’s Trust and King’s Foundation, deviating from the previous Prince’s Trust and Prince’s Foundation. His upcoming participation in the COP28 climate change summit in Dubai at the end of the month further reflects his commitment to ongoing engagement.
At the age of 75, King Charles now ranks as the sixth longest-lived British monarch, trailing behind Elizabeth II, Victoria, George III, Edward VIII, and George II.