Charles and Camilla visit seaside market as royal tour of Northern Ireland continues

On day two of their two-day tour of Northern Ireland, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall started seaside as they visited an open-air market in Bangor. Their Royal Highnesses were received by H.M..’s Lord-Lieutenant of County Down, Mr David Lindsay, and a group of local school children from Bangor Central Primary School.

The 97-year-old open-air market emphasises locally sourced produce and organic goods such as local fruit, vegetables, fish, and home-baked cakes. Visitors can also take home seasonal plants and shrubs from the market. Over time, the market has survived economic crashes, a struggling High Street, and a major fire in 1983.

During the engagement, the Prince and Duchess heard how the local council has restored the site and spoke to several stallholders about their products. As people gathered for a glimpse of the couple, crowd control measures were in place for the almost 1,000 people gathered at the news of the royal appearance. For one well-wisher who lives on the seafront, she said the news of the visit lifted the town’s spirits, and what had been planned as a low-key engagement had spread quickly throughout town.

For one local schoolboy, it wasn’t the royal appearance that had him intrigued; he had one simple question for the Prince: how many televisions The Queen has.

“One I think,” said the Prince. “And maybe one or two elsewhere as well, you never know.”

The engagement followed Tuesday’s jam-packed schedule. The Prince made appearances at Belfast City Hall, the Education Authority’s headquarters, and the Slieve Gullion Forest Park in County Armagh. While the Duchess joined the Prince on several of those stops, she had her own engagement in Hillsborough, County Down, where she visited the workshop of a local silversmith.

This is the couple’s 18th visit to Northern Ireland and their first in its centenary year.