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King Charles III

Cheryl Tweedy, Cole, or Fernandez-Versini? Prince Charles jokes about the singer’s forever changing surname

At the Prince’s Trust Awards on Tuesday, Prince Charles poked fun at Cheryl’s surname that has frequently changed over the years. The Prince of Wales spoke fondly of the singer, who has been an ambassador for The Trust for many years.

Cheryl was known as Cheryl Cole when she was married to footballer Ashley Cole and became Cheryl Fernandez-Versini during her brief marriage to Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini. The former Girls Aloud member was also known as just Cheryl for a period of time before reverting back to her maiden name, Tweedy.

While thanking those involved, the Prince of Wales joked: “I thought to myself some time ago ‘who’s Cheryl Tweedy?’ I suddenly realised I knew the Cheryl bit but missed out on the Tweedy.”

Prince Charles’s well-received humour added light-heartedness to the awards that saw young people from all over the UK awarded for their bravery and hard work in overcoming personal obstacles and turning their lives around.

Joking aside, Prince Charles also thanked Cheryl in his speech for raising £1 million pounds, adding that he is enormously grateful. Cheryl opened the new Prince’s Trust and Cheryl’s Trust centre in Newcastle last month.

The Prince’s Trust and TK Maxx & Homesense Awards, hosted by Ant and Dec, took place at the London Palladium. There were a number of famous faces in attendance, including singer Olly Murs, and actors Tom Hardy and Olivia Coleman. Coleman is rumoured to be playing The Queen in the next series of the hit Netflix drama, The Crown.

In total, there were eight awards given out at the event. Some of the awards included Young Ambassador Award, Rising Star Award, and Educational Achiever Award. For the first time, there was also an award for Mentor of the Year. The full list of the awards and the winners can be found here.