The unexpected moment came during the King’s visit to the Oxford Photovoltaics headquarters
Credit: Kate Green / POOL / AFP via Getty; Kate Green/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- King Charles joked that his visit to solar panel company Oxford Photovoltaics was a “disaster” after he accidentally knocked a plaque to the ground while unveiling it
- The King also quipped that the company display the plaque, created to commemorate his visit, in “the downstairs loo”
- Oxford Photovoltaics is a developer of advanced solar panels
King Charles isn’t immune to the occasional mishap.
On Friday, March 27, the monarch, 77, experienced a bit of a “disaster” while unveiling a plaque to commemorate his tour of the solar company Oxford Photovoltaics’ headquarters in Yarnton, England.
In videos of the lighthearted moment, the King could be seen pulling a blue sheet off the silver plaque, which sat atop an easel, only for it to tumble to the ground in the process.
After calling the moment a “disaster,” the royal asked if the company had somewhere to put the plaque, going on to jokingly suggest they display it in “the downstairs loo.”
Credit: Kate Green/Getty
The King paid a visit to Oxford Photovoltaics to meet the trailblazers who develop advanced solar panels that are capable of converting even more of the sun’s spectrum into generate clean and affordable power.
"I hope you can speed up the transition a bit," King Charles said during the visit, per the BBC, referencing the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. "I think you're remarkable, how you've managed to keep it all going, but it does take time to get to the point where you can actually commercialize all these things.”
“We need it all badly, all your products,” he added. “Fantastic, applicable on one or two roofs.”
In addition to having the opportunity to learn more about silicon solar panels by looking at electron microscope images of the surface of perovskite — a material used to increase the efficiency of solar panels by absorbing different parts of the light spectrum — the King was presented with a customized solar panel cell for him to keep as a memento.
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Credit: Kate Green / POOL / AFP via Getty
“Will it actually do anything?” he quipped while accepting the gift. “Well done. Thank you very much.”
The King’s visit comes just three days after another hilarious moment unfolded between him and Queen Camilla during a visit to the Eden Project to celebrate the sustainable charity’s 25th anniversary.
As seen in a video shared to Instagram by Hello! magazine, the King was chatting with a group of people at a festive Big Lunch event when the Queen Camilla, 78, attempted to catch his attention to show him something.
Camilla began by tapping him on his left side before moving closer to him and tapping on his right arm, which again provided no results. Finally, she pulled the King’s arm to spin him around and show him an intricate cake displayed on the table behind them, which they later sliced into using a sword borrowed from Colonel Sir Edward Bolitho.
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