King Charles was straight into the thick of the action on his first day back at work after his Coronation as he rushed to the aid of a dignitary who got her heel stuck in the mud at a ground-breaking event.
The newly-crowned monarch had just put his spade down at the site of a new high-tech laboratory in Cambridge when one of Dame Polly Courtice’s shoes sank into the grass, leaving her momentarily stranded.
She was still trying to remove it when the King spotted her predicament and went over to support her while she freed herself, to the delight of the crowd who laughed and applauded.
Afterwards, Dame Polly – emeritus director of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership – said the grass had been ‘very soft’, adding: ‘He was very kind. My shoe got stuck in the ground and he gallantly supported me.’
Moments earlier, Charles had jokingly complained that the turf had already been loosened for him as he dug out a patch with a spade at the spot where the new Whittle Laboratory, which specialises in aerospace and energy, will be built.