King Charles spoke with the cyclists about the wet weather and camping in his youth on the Balmoral estate
A cyclist has captured the incredible moment he bumped into King Charles III while cycling on the Balmoral estate.
Andrew McAvoy shared the moment on his YouTube channel, McTrail Rider, in a video titled: “We Bumped Into King Charles On This Bike Ride.”
The interaction appears to have been filmed when the King was staying at Scotland’s Balmoral Castle earlier in September, to mark the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
Between four minutes 25 seconds and five minutes 48 seconds of the video, the King chatted with Mr McAvoy and two other riders about the wet weather, while reminiscing about camping on the estate with his father, Prince Philip, and the Princess Royal.
At the start of the video, Mr McAvoy refers to Charles as “Charlie boy” and says he thinks he is staying on the estate as there are guards stationed with “big assault rifles”. They then set off on their cycle.
As the video moves on, it cuts to a scene where the cyclists cross paths with Charles as he is hiking along a footpath.
Both parties begin chatting to each other and the King is asked: “So, is this your summer vacation to Balmoral?”
The King responds: “Yes, yes, it’s wonderful.”
Mr McAvoy can then be heard saying to Charles “the weather was better”, to which he counters: “Yes, I know. It’s typical, the midges are horrendous.”
Asked why he has been left to walk while his personal security team has driven ahead, the King says: “Yes, but I like my walking. I want to inspect a few things on the way down.”
The conversation then turns to a bothie – an open shelter for people to use for cooking and sleeping in remote parts of Scotland – which the group plan to use overnight.
Charles tells the group he is “so glad” the bothie still works as the royal family along with the people of Ballater – a village near the Balmoral estate – had helped to renovate it.
When he is questioned as to whether he still stays in a nearby building on the estate, the King says: “Yeah, we used to camp when I was very young with my father and my sister.”
As the conversation draws to a close, the King tells the group to “look after yourselves” and jokes with them not to fall off their bikes.
Mr McAvoy and his group then ride off where he says to the camera: “That was a King. That was pretty cool, that was pretty cool.
“What a nice man, what a nice man, lovely man, had time for us.
I’m annoyed because I didn’t want to care, but that was quite cool.”
“The King is a nice man.”
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