Just In: King Charles was on the receiving end of an enthusiastic hug on his visit to The Gate in Clackmannanshire on Thursday…..Read More

The King was welcomed to The Gate in Alloa, which helped 4,273 people last year and provided 190 food parcels per month.

It continues to provide around 75,000 meals per year and supports four satellite food larders in the region.

Evelyn Paterson, The Gate’s founder, praised the “dedication of the volunteers”, adding: “The King’s visit has been the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

As well as meeting volunteers and trustees of the charity, the King was also introduced to refugees from Turkey and Syria during his visit on Thursday.

He was even on the receiving end of an enthusiastic hug by a woman he met on his walkabout.

Outside the centre, crowds chanted “god save the King” while protesters who were cordoned off from the event shouted “not my King”.

Upon meeting volunteer Hugh Grant, secretary of local refugees charity Forth Valley Welcome, the 76-year-old King joked: “You are not going to be 75 – it’s bad enough when you get to 76, it’s slightly alarming. You don’t stop, do you?”

The King was greeted by a group of nursery children with homemade crowns and flags, who had been practising curtsies.

Rura Huggan, four, had been practising The Bonnie Banks Of Loch Lomond in anticipation of the visit, and sang it while waiting for the King.

Nursery manager Jodie McCutcheon said: “We have been learning about the Royal Family and watched videos of the Queen.”

Part-time cook Elizabeth Agate, 66, presented the King with a scone and a millionaire’s shortbread slice, and told him that she used to see him at the races in her hometown of Ascot.

The King met representatives from charities which had received a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service or a King’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Mary Laing, 66, chairwoman of Alva Development Trust, said: “It was so lovely, we are so proud of what we do, and we were the first people in Scotland to receive the King’s Award.

“It is so nice to get appreciated. We are doing the best we can. During the lockdown we were feeding 32,000 people, separate from The Gate.”

Founders of Tullibody History Group, Chris Calder, 80, and Rita Craig, 79, said it was the first time a King had visited in around a century.

Mrs Craig said: “It’s probably a century at least – certainly not in my lifetime. He was very nice when we met him.”