Charles shows off ukulele skills as Camilla enjoys ice cream during royal visit

21 May 2026 • 10:02 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Charles shows off ukulele skills as Camilla enjoys ice cream during royal visit

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 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.

The King chatted to members of the Loughries Men’s Shed Ukulele Ensemble during his visit (Toby Melville/PA) (PA Wire)

Charles is not the only royal with musical aspirations as some of his grandchildren are learning to play instruments, with Prince Louis a would-be drummer and Princess Charlotte a budding pianist, while Prince George is believed to have taken up the guitar.

Charles and Camilla spent the past three days touring Northern Ireland and they ended their stay in Conway Square where hundreds turned out to see them meet local craftspeople and retailers.

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.

Camilla enjoyed an ice cream during the visit (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

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.”

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