A birthday card featuring a Grimsby haddock isn't your typical royal gift — but then King Charles III isn't your typical monarch. The King was presented with the cheeky keepsake during a warmly received visit to the Lincolnshire town of Grimsby, ahead of his official birthday celebrations next weekend.
Lucy Ottewell-Key, head of the Horizon Youth Zone, handed over the fishy tribute on behalf of all 4,000 of the centre's members, telling the King it came with their very best wishes. It's safe to say the locals didn't hold back.
"We love you!" — the crowd gathered outside Horizon Youth Zone as King Charles arrived
From Climbing Walls to Crisis Support
The King's itinerary was packed with purpose. His first stop was Horizon Youth Zone, a community hub that has grown at a remarkable pace since opening its doors in February, already amassing nearly 4,000 members. Charles toured the impressive facilities — including a climbing wall and a training kitchen — before unveiling a commemorative plaque to mark his visit.
Among those he met was 13-year-old Cody Whittle, a student at Oasis Academy Wintringham, who proudly told His Majesty that his favourite sport at Horizon is badminton.
"I told him I'm good at it and he was impressed!" Cody beamed afterwards — and honestly, same energy, Cody.
Adding a touch of cultural flair to the visit, a poem by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage — written especially for Horizon — has been turned into a striking mural inside one of the sports halls, referencing "that sickle of coast to the East… where Grim sailed in from beyond the brink."
From there, the King made his way to the CARE Hub on Victoria Street West, a space described as a "public living room" offering practical crisis support covering housing, mental health and debt — a quietly radical idea in the best possible sense.
Blundell Park and a Shirt Fit for a King
The royal visit wrapped up at Blundell Park, home of Grimsby Town FC, where Charles met with the "Our Future" collective — a group of local organisations and residents driving the "Grimsby Together" initiative. The project channels a £20 million government grant into long-term town priorities including urban greening and housing.
In a fitting send-off, His Majesty was presented with an official Grimsby Town FC shirt to commemorate his time in the area. A haddock birthday card and a football shirt in one afternoon — it's not Buckingham Palace, but it might just be better.
A Busy Day for the Firm
While Charles was making his mark on Grimsby, the wider royal family was equally on the go. Princess Anne had a characteristically relentless schedule, with engagements spanning Edinburgh — where she visited the Medical School to mark its 300th anniversary — to London, including the opening of International Students House in Vauxhall and the Royal Academy of Engineering's 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner at St James's Palace.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales was spotted all smiles in nearby King's Lynn, visiting mental health charity Norfolk and Waveney Mind, where he sat down for a cuppa and conversations about emergency response services and community-led mental health initiatives — a cause especially close to his heart given his former work with the air ambulance service.
With Trooping the Colour on the horizon and a haddock birthday card already in hand, it's shaping up to be a busy — and brilliantly British — birthday season for the King.
