Stars praise ‘easy going’ King Charles III as they gather for investiture ceremony

Soap star William Roache praised King Charles III after comparing their workloads whilst at Windsor Castle.

The 90-year-old Coronation Street icon, who has played Ken Barlow for a record 62 years was awarded his OBE on Wednesday morning.

Also honoured at the royal residence in Berkshire was Band of Brothers actor Damian Lewis, Countryfile presenter Matt Baker and AstraZeneca’s chief executive Sir Pascal Soriot.

After meeting the King, 74, Roache shared that they chatted about their respective challenging workloads.

Describing the monarch as “lovely” and “very friendly”, Roache shared with the PA news agency: “He said: ‘Not still working are you?’; I said: ‘Yes, just had two ex-girlfriends on the show’.

“He said: ‘Oh that must have been work’, and I said: ‘May I wish you a long and joyful reign sir?’, and he said: ‘Thank you, that will be a lot of work too’.”

A long time supporter of the monarchy, Roache said he met Queen Elizabeth II about seven times, going on to say the King is “more easy going” than his late mother.

“The Queen was even – when she came (to visit the Coronation Street set) less than a year ago – she always listened, she was attentive she was on the ball, and didn’t miss a trick. She was very bright,” he said.

“And they always love the humour, all of them, which I like. I’m very fond of the royal family.”

Awarded an MBE for his charity work with Children In Need, Baker, 44, revealed he and the monarch also had an entertaining conversation about a herd of Hebridean sheep the presenter bought off the then-Prince of Wales during the filming of Countryfile.

“I told him, because I was feeding them this morning before I came – obviously with it being so frosty – and they’re still going strong so we had a bit of a natter about it,” he said.

The presenter also reminisced about mucking out the late Queen’s horse Emma, what he referred to as a highlight in his TV career.