The Queen could not resist a game of ping-pong when she joined the King at a Middlesbrough community centre to learn about inspiring projects.
Charles and Camilla met a collection of charities and organisations, from those helping young people to a group from the King’s Trust supporting an initiative to tackle violence involving blades.
But in a lighter moment the King’s consort picked up a bat and ball and joined a group of teenagers having an impromptu match.
She is known to like a game of ping-pong and with her table-tennis partner Alesha Hussain, celebrating her 15th birthday on Thursday, took on 14-year-old Kaleb Autsun.
The Queen batted the ball across the net to the 14-year-old and a stop-start rally began with the ball quickly retrieved by helpful watchers whenever any of the players missed the table.
Alesha, who was representing a young carers’ group, said afterwards: “She was good, I didn’t know she liked table tennis.
“We just started playing and it was good fun.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Their opponent Kaleb was impressed with the opposition, saying: “It was nice, that was a new experience because I’ve never seen any of the royal family before.”
