Prince charming! Charles gives Queen of Spain warm welcome at art gallery
THERE was no standing on ceremony last night when the Prince of Wales and the Queen of Spain greeted each other warmly with a kiss.
Charles kissed Queen Letizia on each cheek and on the hand – something he does when he greets his mother the Queen – while the Spanish monarch was said by an onlooker to be very ‘tactile’.
Letizia was 20 minutes late for their outing to see a new art exhibition in London, while the prince’s wife the Duchess of Cornwall was away at the Cheltenham races.
The glamorous queen, 46, wife of King Felipe VI, wore a patterned 1950s- style cocktail dress with three-quarter length sleeves. She and the prince were attending the first British exhibition of the Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla in over a century at the National Gallery.
They spoke warmly throughout the hour-long visit, with Letizia regularly touching Charles’s arm to guide him towards paintings in the gallery.
The Spanish queen’s spokesman said later that she arrived late because she had been caught in traffic.
The exhibition was one of the highlights of a star-studded day for Charles, who earlier met celebrity supporters at his Prince’s Trust Awards.
In a hilarious moment, he was informed by EastEnders actor Danny Dyer that they were related.
The soap star told the prince: ‘I just want to let you know that we are related as well. King Edward III is my grandfather – but I won’t go into it! No he is, on my life!’ Laughing, Charles replied: ‘But a long way away…’
Dyer admitted: ‘Yeah, I know… good to be here though. Bless ya.’
The future king took the revelation in his stride, telling the audience at the awards ceremony, to roars of laughter: ‘The other thing I’ve found out today is that I’ve discovered a long- lost relation in Daniel Dyer.
‘He told me he was descended from Edward III, which was interesting, so I must do some research.’
Dyer said later: ‘I think I freaked him out a bit. He had a good laugh though.’
The EastEnders actor discovered his royal ancestry on the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are? in 2016 and went on to present the two-part programme Danny Dyer’s Right Royal Family at the beginning of this year. Dyer learnt that not only was King Edward III his great- grandfather 22 times removed, but also that he is related to William the Conqueror and Henry VIII’s adviser Thomas Cromwell.
The meeting between the unlikely relatives came as Charles attended the annual Prince’s Trust Awards at the London Palladium to celebrate the success of young people helped by his Prince’s Trust charity.
Before the event the prince met ambassadors of the charity including actors Luke Evans and Chiwetel Ejiofor, musicians Tinie Tempah and Brian May, comedian Michael McIntyre and actress Katherine Kelly.
‘He had a good laugh’