Charles gets out vacuum for dust up with media
ASIAN TOUR: ROYAL VISITORS SPEND DAY IN SINGAPORE
THE PRINCE of Wales has revealed that when it comes to domestic chores he has the skills to handle a vacuum cleaner – and he is not afraid to use them.
When Charles got to grips with a Dyson machine during a visit to the company’s Singapore Technology Centre, he was faced not with a dusty floor but the world’s media.
Laughing, the heir to the throne tried out the cordless Dyson V8 Absolute when he was shown a range of products developed by the company, started by British designer Sir James Dyson.
He vigorously vacuumed the floor around the feet of a group of photographers then jokingly held up the vacuum’s head and threatened to give one a personal clean.
Chuckling, the heir to the throne said: “You’ve got dirty trousers.”
Charles was given a tour of the centre, opened earlier this year, which develops elements used across the whole Dyson product range, from motors and sensors to software.
But Sir James Dyson, famed for creating his bagless vacuum cleaner, was not at the offices as he was believed to be in China attending a board meeting.
The Prince also saw demonstrations of the firm’s robot cleaner, which scurries across the floor picking up dirt and dust, and met with engineers who are working to improve the Dyson purifier fan.
Charles asked them: “Are you trying to get some of the machines smaller?
“That’s always difficult, getting everything in.”
Charles and Camilla are on an 11-day tour of south-east Asia and India and during their final full-day in Singapore visited the National Orchid Garden where they had a bloom named after them – Dendrobium Duke Duchess of Cornwall.
The Royal couple took part in an orchid-naming ceremony where a plaque containing the new name was placed into the orchid pot, and they were presented with a birth certificate of the new flower.
Charles later visited the National Gallery Singapore, opened in 2015 after the former Supreme Court Building and City Hall were joined and extended to create the attraction by architect Jean Francois Milou.