King makes first visit to Kent since coronation

King Charles III is making his first visit to Kent since his coronation two years ago.

The King visited Walmer Castle, the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, to meet representatives from the 14 coastal towns that make up the Confederation of Cinque Ports.

He saw the Queen Mother's Garden, named after his grandmother, who held the title of Lord Warden from 1978 to 2002.

King Charles toured the castle which was an official residence and favourite place of his grandmother up until her death.

The King observed the restoration works undertaken by English Heritage to conserve the building for future generations.

He also toured the castle gardens and planted a horse chestnut tree to mark the visit.

The Cinque Ports is a ceremonial organisation which originated as a medieval trading and defensive alliance of ports along the south-east coast of England,

Walmer Castle has been the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports for nearly 300 years.

The role has been held by previous prime ministers, including Sir Winston Churchill, as well as members of the Royal Family.

In 1997, the walled garden at the castle was re-planted to mark the Queen Mother's 95th birthday and now forms the Queen Mother's Garden.

It has taken three months of preparation to get the gardens at Walmer Castle up to scratch for the royal visit.

Head Gardener, Philip Oostenbrink, showed the King the jungle moat which has taken five years to curate.

The new garden has a 29m (95ft) pond and a bench with a life-sized model corgi sitting on it.

Later the King joined a community beach clean in nearby Deal.

The scheme's volunteers include cadets from the Kent Wing Royal Air Force, Deal Army, Sea and Royal Marine cadets as well as local scout groups.

As patron of the RNLI, King Charles viewed a demonstration of the launch of the D Class lifeboat at Walmer lifeboat station.

He visited the Captain's Garden at Deal Castle and met community groups who use nature and the outdoors for therapy and education.

Stephen Wakeford has been developing the garden with volunteers for eight years.

He said: "There is so much great environmental work and volunteering going on in Deal that it was hard to choose what the King should see but we hope he likes what we have achieved here as a community."

Whilst this is the King's first visit to Kent since his coronation, Queen Camilla visited Canterbury in February to unveil a statue of Aphra Behn, the first woman to earn a wage as a professional writer.

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