The King asked lifeboat volunteers whether they "get a lot" of small boat rescue call-outs during a visit to an RNLI station in Kent on Thursday. Charles spoke to crew members about their work at Walmer Beach near Deal Castle, where he also joined in with litter picking and greeted members of the public.
Among the volunteers were three crew members being honoured for a rescue operation 10 miles off the coast on 14 December 2022. Reports from that day indicate that four people died and 43 were rescued when a small boat began taking on water.
Volunteer describes "traumatic" rescue
Volunteer Daniel Sinclair told the King the small boats were "not very seaworthy" and described the operation as "traumatic". When Charles asked "Do you get a lot of those call outs?", Mr Sinclair replied: "Not so much here," adding that stations in Ramsgate and Dover are used more often for channel crossings.
The King spoke about the small boats issue when he delivered a speech at a state banquet on Tuesday evening, marking the start of French President Emmanuel Macron's three-day state visit to the UK. He told the Windsor Castle dinner guests about deepening cooperation between the UK and France that will protect against "profound challenges" like terrorism, organised crime and "irregular migration" across the English Channel.
Starmer promises "new tactics"
Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said the UK would tackle illegal migration with "new tactics" and a "new level of intent" ahead of crunch talks to hammer out a deal with Mr Macron. The French president said the UK and France "share the same will" to address the issue at the start of a Franco-British summit at Downing Street.
Mr Sinclair told the PA news agency: "We went to a call out on December 14 2022, for a small boat taking on water with multiple people in the water, it was a very chaotic and stressful callout for us on board our Atlantic 85. We saved five people's lives, stopped them from drowning and it was bitterly cold but the adrenaline kept us going."
King joins beach clean-up
He has been an RNLI volunteer for 17 years after joining up when he turned 18. The King then went on to pick up rubbish on Walmer Beach, waving his litter picker at the crowd of residents hoping to see him.
He told one resident as he shook their hand "those shingles are very hard work". Deal and Walmer residents gathered in their hundreds as Charles waved and shook hands with many of them.
One man, wearing nothing on his top half, admitted "I'm a bit underdressed, aren't I?" which the King chuckled at.
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
