العربية
We already knew that King Charles III has a deep love of historic architecture. And while his pointed criticism of all things modern over the years (such as his reference to a proposed addition to London’s National Gallery as a “monstrous carbuncle” in 1984) has always made him seem a bit ornery, his recent appearance on the BBC show The Repair Shop just might help repair his image.
The newly-appointed King of England filmed the episode, which aired on October 26 in the United Kingdom, before the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, when he was still the Prince of Wales. For unfamiliar Americans, the premise of the show is that host Jay Blades and a team of expert craftspeople help individuals repair treasured family heirlooms. Over ten seasons, the items repaired include everything from antique furniture to paintings to children’s toys, Olympic medals, musical instruments, and more.
Blades and the crew visited the now-king at Dumfries House, his Scottish estate. There, Charles waxed poetic about the sound of clocks. “I love grandfather clocks,” he said. “It is rather reassuring in a funny way. They become really special parts of the house…the beating heart of it.” His majesty asked the team to fix two special items from his collection. Horologist Steve Fletcher, his apprentice Fred Fletcher, and antique furniture restorer William Kirk took on the repair of an 18th-century bracket clock, and ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay was tasked with mending a Wemyss Ware vase made for Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897.
King Charles and Blades discussed the importance of keeping craftsmanship alive, and the team from The Repair Shop even work with a graduate of The Prince’s Foundation’s building craft program, which focuses on stonemasonry, carpentry, bricklaying, blacksmithing, and similar trades. Charles’s passion for the subject came across clearly.
When each of his repaired items were presented to him, King Charles was clearly moved. “It just shows, doesn’t it, what a little love, care, and attention does?” he said upon seeing the restored clock. “Marvelous.” He was equally impressed with the restoration of the vase, which he called his “favorite.” And it seems as if viewers of the show were quite impressed with the King as well. Across social media, the sentiment among those who tuned in seems to be positive. As the Twitter user @TonyVCarter put it, “Well I have little time for royalty but in that special episode of the #repairshop King Charles came across as a really decent bloke and so nice that the Repair Shop team treated him as a normal bloke, no bowing and scraping.”
