Bard and the Goons welcome Charles to Cardiff
IT WAS, as the producer would have put it, a varied bill.
The programme for a 70th birthday party for the Prince of Wales in Cardiff included Shakespeare, Chopin and his favourite – The Goons.
Charles, who has always professed his love for the anarchic radio show of the 1950s, was being entertained by drama students from the Royal Welsh College of Music, of which he is patron.
He was there – three weeks after his birthday – to celebrate Welsh creative talent, and was told by the actor Owen Teale, a star of the TV series Game of
Thrones, that Cardiff was now a destination city for performers.
Teale, a native of Swansea, said: “It reminds me how wrong I was, but I thought I had to leave Wales to become an actor.” The Cardiff-born actor Matthew Rhys introduced the performance by telling the Prince: “Sir, you’ve been this college’s most treasured patron for 19 years and we’re honoured to have you with us today.” Charles had arrived in Wales on a steam locomotive that dated from 1948, the year he was born, and was greeted by a crowd at Cardiff Central station. He went on to visit patients and staff at the City Hospice in the grounds of the city’s Whitchurch Hospital, where he is also patron. It needs to raise £1m a year to maintain its palliative care services.
You’ve been this college’s most treasured patron for 19 years. Cardiff-born actor Matthew Rhys.