You read that headline right: King Charles did play a carrot recorder at a musical reception, but it was in service of promoting grassroots—perhaps literally—musical groups across the United Kingdom.
The event was held to “celebrate the vital role music plays in strengthening communities and the important work of those developing future musical leaders…by providing the next generation with knowledge and experience.”
And that included the London Vegetable Orchestra (not a typo) harvesting the support of the King for their, to quote Buckingham Palace, “spud-tacular pea-formance of ‘Lettuce Bean’ by The Beet-les.”
Honestly, the Palace might be having more fun with the puns than I am…
But the London Vegetable Orchestra made up just a handful of the 350 community musical groups invited to support local musical initiatives; and they came armed with a carrot recorder for the King, who dutifully played ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ adeptly.
Afterwards, according to opera soprano April Koyejo-Audinger, the King quipped that “he hopes they eat the carrots because he wouldn’t want any food to go to waste.”
Other musical groups invited to perform included the Sing for Freedom Choir, the London Gay Men’s Chorus, musicians from the Royal College of Music, YolanDa Brown, and the Songs for Ukraine Chorus.
The King was joined by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester for the occasion; the royal couple are long-time musical supporters and have many musical patronages between them.
