King Charles III
A Prince in the Countryside - A Chance Encounter
His Majesty King Charles III
As our country moves into a completely new era of Royal Sovereign, from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to His Majesty King Charles III, there is an inevitability that our minds will drift off into recollections and how the Monarch will embrace the future role.
At various occasions I have met and photographed the Prince of Wales as he was at the time. Four of these were formal events relating to conservation or biodiversity focussed on the wider countryside including a Red Squirrel Survival Trust symposium — as King he currently remains their Patron. The speeches were eloquent, soundly based and evidence of a profound desire to help, lend the weight and gravitas his position provided. Most of all I was surprised, when we shook hands, his skin and toughness was just like a hard working, grafting farmer.
However, the most memorable of my meetings, came by chance, totally unexpected and in the most unlikely of situations. For many years I have documented rural crafts, country sports and lifestyles amongst rural communities throughout the Country. An annual event which I have always enjoyed is the basis of working countryside management, during the turning year of seasons. One my grandfather used to labour at during those winter months — hedge laying.
The National Hedgelaying Society is a registered charity with His Majesty King Charles III as the current Patron. Its objects are: ‘To advance the education of the public of the need for the conservation and proper management of our hedgerows and how this is achieved through the traditional craft of hedgelaying, encourage landowners and occupiers to utilise the services of those skilled in the craft of hedgelaying to manage their hedgerows for the benefit of wildlife and the environment. To encourage the development of hedgerow management skills through demonstration, the provision of structured training with a skills award system and through competition, thereby providing the opportunity for the public to learn a skill which is of particular benefit to land-based workers but which is also a healthy physically and mentally demanding recreational activity, thereby ensuring the continuation of this traditional craft into the future’. And in many ways these also sum up the wider ethos of charities and organisations which the Prince supported or lent his weight too.
Each year at the end of October the Society holds the National Hedgelaying Championships. In 2005 these were held at Tetbury Gloucestershire, on the doorstep of Highgrove, the Patron would quite obviously be presenting the prizes. That year’s winner was Elwyn Davis laying the Welsh Style of hedge laying. Also competing was ‘Badger’ Walker from Derbyshire who I had known for several years and who had introduced me to the craft and terms like pleaching or plashing — the technique of interweaving dead and living branches through a hedge to create lattices, a fence or stock proof hedge.
Autumn in October has a delightful feel, often misty and damp, you can sense nature starting to bed down for winter, pulling the cloak of darkness ever closer as the daylight hours reduce. This was just such a day and whilst I had seen Prince Charles at various times none of the opportunities offered the kind of image I was seeking and so I spent most of the day with the hedge laying competitors, in fact slightly kicking myself as I missed the winners presentation. I drifted off content with an enjoyable day and some suitable images for my needs. When I reached my car, now quite solitary in the middle of the parking field I noticed a small huddle of people — maybe six on a hedge line about 250 yds away. They seemed very intent as to what was happening, but I thought little more until the unmistakeable flash of a compact camera periodically highlighted the group.
Approaching the huddle I could see two people hedge laying and suddenly realised the unmistakeable figure of Price Charles was one of the two hedge layers; no longer in his tailor made suit, this was the Prince Charles in worn down rugged tweeds, getting stuck in with slasher and axe, enjoying himself in the vein of the competitors earlier that day. No reverence here, the Prince was giving it his all, chatting, laughing and joking with the few people around him. And it will stay in my memory forever when one man with a lovely Gloucestershire burr piped up saying: ‘Blimey Charles you would be bloody good at beheading, the way you handle that slasher’. Everybody was reduced to laughter, the comment stopping the Prince mid swing with the tool, his laugh was as loud and joyous as those around him.
Stripped of formality, without security, unashamed, at ease to be photographed and clearly in his element, this was the side of a man of the countryside, now our King. His reign will present challenges, be founded and function on strict protocol and formality. Those informal images I shot of a Prince now King Charles III, with the light of an October day slipping away, provided an opportunity few may have and one I will enjoy recalling, during those moments of reflection.
