The King burst out laughing as he tried his hand at making traditional German cheese on Thursday.
King Charles started giggling during a visit to an organic farm in Brandenburg on the second day of the state visit to Germany.
Charles, a pioneer of sustainability, was urged to put on coat and plastic overshoes to join staff in the dairy.
He was invited to help spread cheese curd into moulds. “I’ll do my best,” he grinned.
But he couldn’t help but laugh as the mixture began pouring quicker than he expected out of four metal funnels and he frantically tried to start pushing it into the moulds.
“I need longer arms,” he chortled.
He started helplessly pushing the curd as forcefully as he could, laughing as he did.
“Well they do say it hand-made,” he smiled.
The cheese is a traditional German sliced cheese, coloured naturally with carrot.
Earlier the king watched some of the staff also pack butter and looked mischievously as he spotted reporters also wearing full protective gear.
The King, who was accompanied by Brodowin owners and managers Ludolf and Katja von Maltzan as well as German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, had planned to see some of the farm’s baby calves living in special calf igloos that are more hygienic and stop the spread of illness.
But unfortunately a storm erupted, with heavy rain, thunder and lightening, and the King had to rush into an open-sided building instead.
There he was presented with a magnificent cake in the shape of a crown lying on a purple cushion in honour of his coronation.
The white chocolate and Victoria sponge cake took chef Antje Neumann 21 hours to make and weighed ten kilos.
The king cut a slice and tasted it. “This is brilliant, it must have taken you weeks. This is seriously good cake.”
Mr Steinmeier turned to the King and said: “It might be the model for your crown!”
Afterwards he met with local organic farmers as well as supermarket representatives to talk about their efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture through organic farming, including their approach to reducing food waste via direct marketing.
The King was in his element, chatting animatedly to the fellow organic enthusiastic, including one man whom he has been conversing with for 40 years.
“Thank you for everything you have done to further organic farming and to protect people and and nature,” he was told.
His Majesty was also shown a soil sample from a nearby site to learn more about history of the land and its ability to store carbon dioxide and see examples of products such as paper and mugs made out of grass from protected grasslands.
During the visit he was accompanied by Prince Bernhard, a hereditary prince of Baden and grandson of Prince Philip’s sister, Theodora. Like Charles he is a keen organic farmer and the two men have visited each other’s properties.
Ökodorf Brodowin organic farm, was established in 1991 from an East German agricultural production cooperative to maintain jobs and help reduce environmental impacts.
It is now one of the largest “Demeter” certified farms, committed to biodynamic agriculture involving systematic crop rotation and targeted green fertilisers to return to the soil what has been taken from it.
The 2,300-hectare farm produces vegetables, dairy products, flax and sunflower oil, fresh meat and sausages.
