ROYAL TUMBLE
Moment King Charles almost falls over on artificial grass – before calmly putting on his sunglasses and carrying on
Charles spoke out about the 'wrongdoings of the past'
THIS is the moment King Charles almost fell over on artificial grass - before calmly putting on his sunglasses and carrying on.
The monarch took a tumble while visiting the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Kariokor cemetery in Nairobi, Kenya with Queen Camilla this morning.
2
2
He was being guided from one patch of artificial grass to another when his shoe snagged under one of them.
Queen Camilla reached out to grab hold of Charles, who balanced himself quickly.
The King then put his sunglasses on and calmly walked away.
During his visit to the cemetery, Charles said he felt the "greatest sorrow and deepest regret" about Britain's "abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence" in Kenya.
Read More Royals
He added that there was "no excuse" for the British Empire's "wrongdoings" during its repression of the Mau Mau rebellion.
Charles said: "It is the intimacy of our shared history that has brought our people together.
"However, we must also acknowledge the most painful times of our long and complex relationship.
"The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret.
Most read in Royals
"There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged, as you said at the United Nations, a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty.
"For that, there can be no excuse."
President William Ruto of Kenya praised Charles's "exemplary courage" - but said that "much remains to be done in order to achieve full reparations".
Ruto added that Britain had been "monstrous in its cruelty" during the period.
The Mau Mau rebellion was an uprising by the Kikuyu tribe which began shortly after Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.
Kenya's Human Rights Commission says 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed by British forces who crushed the rebellion.
UNSUNG HEROES
Charles also presented medals to a Kenyan believed to be one of the world's oldest surviving Second World War veterans - after he lost his military honours.
He handed the five medals to former corporal Samweli Mburia, during a poignant ceremony where other old soldiers who fought for Britain against Hitler's regime also received replacements of their military honours.
It is claimed Mr Mburia is 117 years old and when told of his great age the King said: "I think you must have been living on wild honey and locusts."
Many Kenyans who served with the British threw away their medals during the Mau Mau uprising against colonial rule in the 1950s, for fear of being accused of being British collaborators.
Charles shook the hand of the elderly veteran and thanked him for his service and lighted the mood by asking: "I hope all the right ones are there."
Specialist medal auctioneers Spink sourced the original medals - 1939-1945 Star, Africa Star, Burma Star, Defence Medal, War Medal - for Mr Mburia who served in Egypt, Abyssinia and Burma with the Royal Engineers.
The veteran's daughter Idah Kagweni, 54, said her father's medals were lost and described the mood among Kenya's ex-military as the struggle to end British rule became violent.
She said: "They were fearful to be found with those medals because of the Mau Mau.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
"During that time some of them threw them in the sea or they hid them and don't know where they hid them."
The veteran, speaking through his daughter, said: "I am so happy and proud to be receiving my medals from the King."
Topics