‘How old are you King Charles?’ Question during visit to Walthamstow youth charity sums up gulf between monarch and youngsters seeking understanding

They’ve both been in their new roles for a very similar time, and despite questions about how people would feel about King Charles following the much-loved Queen, he’s so far fared better than Liz Truss just down the road at Number 10.

But at times of political turmoil, you can’t help but think about the role of the monarch.

We talked about it so often when the Queen was alive, how she was a symbol of continuity for many when everything else seemed in turmoil.

Now with the government in a state of flux, the country feeling unsettled and a cost of living crisis, can her son be that same unifying and reassuring figure?

Back in London for their first joint engagement, the King and the Queen Consort had come to see the work of Project Zero in Walthamstow.

A ‘getting to know what matters to this community’ type of visit, all centred around a truly inspiring organisation set up by Stephen Barnabis after two of his teenage cousins were stabbed to death.

Getting kids out of gangs, away from crime and supporting all young people to achieve their potential in this borough, not just those who are disadvantaged, is what they’re all about.

‘How old are you King Charles?’

But it was a primary school pupil who summed up a potential issue for the new King when it comes to really understanding what matters, especially to a younger crowd.

“How old are you King Charles?” they said, the King replying, “you’ll have to guess”.

He is 73 and Camilla is 75. It is a huge age gap from the teenagers and young people in their twenties that they would meet during the visit, who were certainly not all devoted royal fans, as I found out chatting to them afterwards.

One of the youth workers Nia Gichie told me: “I believe that before this visit our young people saw our Royal Family as them and us.”

But she added that the interest shown by the King and Camilla really struck the groups they spoke to.

“I think they got that realness from them, and for our young people to actually have access, to have those conversations with their majesties, is something that they will always remember,” she said.

‘I’ve seen a different side to them’

Rebecca Huggins supports other young people after Project Zero helped her, and admitted she never used to be that interested in the royals.

“If I’m being honest, I never really had that attachment to the Royal Family but, seeing them today, I’ve seen a different side to them, I’ve seen a personal side to them, and they really seem invested in making a change.”

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Rebecca was in care and in an abusive relationship. She couldn’t believe it when Camilla bothered to ask if she’d been getting support.

“We had a nice little heart-to-heart,” she explained, adding that it came as a big surprise that the King “had some banter”.

‘You can see what the visit has meant’

Stephen Barnabis, who set up the charity, told me he felt the visit had changed some people’s perceptions of the Royal Family.

“You can say for a lot of young people the relevance of them is a conversation, it is a discussion, but I think you can see the excitement, you can see what the visit has meant,” he said.

From private conversations he had with them, he also sensed the King and Camilla genuinely want to know more about the current pressures people are facing.

“We’ve gone from COVID, to war, to the energy costs and the crisis, and they’ve kind of been there in the forefront and really interested in what’s going on across the country. I can actually see that in talking to them today,” he added.

‘He can make change’

Natasha Johnson is currently living in temporary accommodation with her seven and 14-year-old sons after a fire broke out at their flat close to the youth centre during the summer heatwaves.

She told the King about it and seemed surprised at how it played out.

“I thought he was going to be very cold and very reserved, but no, great eye contact, and it just felt really relaxed,” she said.

With everything that’s going on in politics, she told me that the short meeting with the King really did matter.

“He’s the voice of the people, he can make change, and he’s very passionate about these sorts of things… he was more concerned about the aftermath of, ok there was a fire, but what happens next.”

Smiling, she added: “I felt held, I felt kind of contented as well that he understood and listened and so did the Queen as well.”

‘Our head of state is utterly useless’

You do get a different perspective from organisations such as Republic, the anti-monarchy group.

Their chief executive Graham Smith tweeted in the past couple of days: “We are entering another period of constitutional uncertainty, the only certainty being that our head of state is utterly useless #AbolishTheMonarchy #NotMyKing”.

And yes, this was only one visit, to one charity, in one part of London.

But the King and Queen Consort just going, making the time to stop and to listen, appears to have meant a great deal at a moment when people there feel the government doesn’t have the capacity or stability to truly deal with the day-to-day problems that matter to them, and no doubt many others across the United Kingdom.