Hundreds of people lined the streets as King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla arrived in Liverpool.
Their Majesties were in the city today ahead of this year's Eurovision Song Contest and the King's Coronation. King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla started their visit with a tour of the M&S Bank Arena where they were given the important job of unveiling this year's Eurovision stage.
Eurovision director Martin Green started a count down from ten before the Royals pressed a buzzer which illuminated the stage in dazzling orange lights. There was a special nod to the King's Coronation, which is only ten days away, as a Coronation logo flashed up on the screen above the stage.
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This was followed by the Eurovision logo surrounded by bright pink, blue and yellow lights. Their Majesties then moved onto the main stage where they were invited to meet this year's Eurovision hosts: Julia Sanina, Scott Mills, Rylan Clark and Hannah Waddingham.
Rylan was seen laughing and joking with King Charles after greeting him by saying: "Your Majesty, how nice to meet you. I hear you have just come from Scotland. Little bit of different weather down here. ‘
During today's visit, the King also met the UK's Eurovision contestant Mae Muller who will be singing ‘I Wrote A Song'. King Charles told her: "‘Good luck, we’ll be watching with great interest, egging you on."
Mae said: "Thank you. No pressure. No nul points this year", to which Camilla agreed: "No nul points."
Blue Peter Presenters Joel Mawhinney, Abby Cook and Mwaksy Mudenda then awarded Charles and Camilla with their very own gold Blue Peter badges in honour of the Coronation.
Their Majesties also stopped to speak to Blue Peter viewers including eight-year-old Sasha, from Liverpool, who was proud to speak about her green Blue Peter badge aimed at helping to protect the environment.
Camilla asked Sasha how many badges she had in total, to which she replied she had eight. Camilla said: “Eight? That’s pretty showing isn’t it, having eight badges”, adding “yes, that’s a lot of bling.”
A crowd gathered outside the arena in the hope of catching a glimpse of the King and Camilla as they headed on to Liverpool Central Library. Members of the crowd were heard shouting "hi and welcome" as their Majesties turned to wave at them.
Their Majesties visited Liverpool Central Library to officially mark its twinning with Ukraine’s first public Library, the Regional Scientific Library in Odesa. When they arrived at William Brown Street, the King and Queen Consort were greeted with huge crowds and cheers.
One woman shouted: "Charlie, our King." Primary School children also travelled to the city centre and waved flags as the King and Camilla arrived. After shaking the hands of the King one woman said she was "not washing her hand after today."
King Charles and Camilla were also greeted by brass band EuroBrass with Resonate Liverpool Music Hub and Liverpool’s 100 Voices Choir, a choir of young people from local secondary schools. Anti-monarchy protesters were also on William Brown Street and chanted "not our king" to meet their Majesties arrival.
After arriving the monarchs were welcomed into the Central Library and met with a poetry recital of ‘Poem for Eurovision’ by renowned poet Levi Tafari, written with the help of secondary pupils from several of Liverpool’s Schools of Sanctuary.
The King and Queen Consort then had a tour of the library space, including watching players from Liverpool Chess Club play on a giant chess board which was used during ‘Eurofest’ for livestreamed competitions with players in Odesa.
Their Majesties then met members of the Ukrainian Community in Liverpool and their host families. At an event to mark the twinning of Liverpool Central Library with the Odesa National Scientific Library in Ukraine, King Charles spoke of the "truly terrifying" situation in Ukraine.
He said: "Our hearts go out to all those who I know have been so affected and also at how much has been lost in this terrible disaster."
The King also said it was a "particular delight" for him and his wife to be here in Liverpool. In a historic moment, the King and Camilla pulled a Ukrainian flag to reveal a plaque to mark the twinning of Liverpool Central Library and the Regional Scientific library in Odesa, Ukraine.
Their Majesties left Liverpool Central Library to cheers from the crowd once again.
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