King buys himself a birthday edition of The Big Issue — with his own picture on the cover
KING Charles today bought himself a birthday edition of The Big Issue — with his picture of the front cover.
And he paid for it with a £10 note, bearing the portrait of his late mother.
The King featured in this week’s magazine, which helps the homeless, as part of his 75th birthday drive to end food poverty.
He launched his Coronation Food Project with Queen Camilla in Didcot, Oxon, before meeting a Big Issue seller called Kelvin.
The King held the 61-year-old’s hand warmly and thumbed through the mag.
Kelvin, who has sold the Big Issue off and on for 25 years, said afterwards: “It just shows he cares. He is reaching out to the general public. He is a good man.
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“His mother would be proud of him. She was a benevolent and kind person.”
Meanwhile, gun salutes rang out in London to mark the King’s birthday.
At noon, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, named by Charles’s grandfather King George VI, fired a 41-gun volley in Green Park.
An hour later, the Honourable Artillery Company held a 62-gun salute at Tower Wharf, Tower of London — the extra 21 for the City of London.
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Birthday celebrations had begun early for the King when on Monday he was guest of honour at a party for those also turning 75 this year — from NHS workers to members of the Windrush generation.
Among famous faces were celebrity chef Raymond Blanc and The Repair Shop host Jay Blades.
King Charles is now the sixth oldest British monarch ever — behind his mother Elizabeth II, Victoria, George III, Edward VIII and George II.
