King Charles appeared to put on a brave face on his first royal engagement since explosive trailers for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell Netflix docuseries dropped.
The monarch is in Luton for a series of visits, which has seen him stop by Luton Town Hall and the newly-built Guru Nanak Gurdwara.
It comes a day after a second promo for his son Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan's series was released, which sees the prince speaking of a "dirty game" where there is "leaking" and "planting of stories".
He also discusses the "pain and suffering" of women marrying into the royal family, while Meghan says she realised she was "never going to be protected".
However, today the King appeared in good spirits as he arrived at Luton Town Hall where he smiled as he met community leaders and voluntary organisations.
He was greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Susan Lousada, and the mayor of Luton, Councillor Sameera Saleem, on arrival at the town hall before meeting local groups and members of the public.
Guests included representatives from The Ghana Society, Royal British Legion, Luton Town’s football academy, veterans and cadets.
Charles later visited the Guru Nanak Gurdwara, where he was greeted by Professor Gurch Randhawa, member of the Sikh Congregation at the Gurdwara and deputy lieutenant.
He spoke to volunteers at the Luton Sikh Soup Kitchen Stand about the impact food poverty is having on the community and meet volunteers who run the Sikh School, before speaking to children learning Punjabi and traditional music.
After, the monarch is also due to visit the Luton Dart Parkway Station, learning about the new cable-drawn mass passenger transit system, which will connect the rail station to London Luton Airport.
He will be shown the control room before boarding the Dart for a three-minute trip, accompanied by staff from the construction and transport system contractors.
His visit comes after royal sources said that he and elder son Prince William were due to hold crisis talks to respond to any allegations of racism or ill treatment of Harry and Meghan in their TV series.
Charles and William will put on a united front after bracing themselves for a series of bombshells by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when the first half of their six-part documentary is broadcast on Netflix on Thursday.
Senior aides to the monarch and Prince and Princess of Wales plan to watch the three episodes in order to react swiftly to any further damaging accusations against the monarchy.
A senior royal source said: “There is a completely united front from the King and his family concerning the numerous attempts to privately make peace with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which sadly have once again resulted in the other side wishing to air their repeated grievances to the world.
“If there is a need to respond to anything in the upcoming series then you can be assured that response will be swift and robust.”
