King Charles III and Queen Camilla Visit Welsh Parliament Amidst Protests
The royal couple attended the ceremonial opening of the Senedd in Cardiff, engaging with Aberfan disaster survivor and descendants.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla proceeded with their scheduled engagement at the Senedd in Cardiff, marking the ceremonial opening of the Welsh Parliament, while largely unperturbed by a small group of protestors.
The couple arrived in Cardiff Bay to face demonstrators holding 'Not My King' placards and chanting slogans against the monarchy. Despite the noise, the primary focus of their visit was a poignant meeting with Gareth Jones, 66, a survivor of the 1966 Aberfan disaster, and the great-grandsons of the school caretaker who saved him.
Charles spoke with Jones, who was overcome with emotion, showing the King a photograph of himself as a child with Prince Philip shortly after the disaster. The Aberfan disaster, which occurred 60 years ago, involved a colliery tip collapse that buried the Pantglas junior school, resulting in 144 fatalities, including 116 children.
Jones recounted how he was pushed through a classroom window by his teacher and rescued by school caretaker Stephen Andrew. Jones's great-grandsons, Noah and Charlie, presented a posy to the Queen. Noah had previously met Jones by chance at his school, unaware of the connection to the caretaker who saved him.
The King and Queen were also introduced to Len Moss, a nurse who attended the scene and helped identify victims. Charles, addressing the newly expanded Senedd in English and Welsh, paid tribute to the people of Aberfan, noting that he, the Queen, and Prince William would visit the community on October 21 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the tragedy.
He referenced the Welsh protest song 'Yma o Hyd,' now an anthem for the Welsh football team, remarking on the many new faces in the Senedd and the 'reassuring presence of familiar faces who are, we might say, Yma o Hyd [still here].'
Elsewhere, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their first joint public appearance in the UK in four years in Nottingham on the same day. The royal couple's engagements in Wales proceeded as planned, with Charles taking part in the Senedd opening ceremony for the first time as monarch.