On Monday, the Prince of Wales visited shirt maker Emma Willis and her factory in Gloucestershire. The 71-year-old was given a tour of the factory floor and the cutting room.
Willis set up the business in 1989. With a shop on London’s Jermyn Street, Willis is nearby to the Prince’s London residence, Clarence House.
“I was approached by one of his dressers about six years ago,” said Willis.
“And the dresser said His Royal Highness would like to try my shirts. So I went to Clarence House and measured His Royal Highness for the first time and we’ve been making his shirts ever since. And one of the things we specialise in is very fine Swiss cottons and he loves lovely soft fabrics.”
During the engagement, the Prince also met with injured service personnel that are sponsored by the company’s charity Style for Soldiers. Set up in 2008, the charity helps to provide complimentary smart clothing, bespoke regimental walking sticks, and they hold reunion parties for injured servicemen and women.
In an impromptu speech, the Prince thanked Willis for her work:
“I just wanted to come really to thank you, more than anything, for the wonderful things you do, apart from making fantastic shirts and boxer shorts and everything else. But everything you do for our armed forces and all those who had the horror of being wounded in one way or another, it is a wonderful thing you do.”
During his visit, the Prince was presented with a shirt even joking a bit about staying fit.
“Very kind of you – you’ve got my measurements. I struggle to keep them the same, a never-ending battle.”
On Tuesday, the Prince is set to carry out engagements in Warwickshire and the West Midlands, which will include a visit to the Costume Workshop of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Then later this week on Thursday, Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall will present The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education for 2018-2020 in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
The Prince also has a day of engagements planned in Wales on Friday.
