The Prince of Wales was given his very own set of face masks, complete with a tartan design, as he visited Tube workers in Kensington on Thursday. Prince Charles, 71, was accompanied by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, chair of Transport for London (TfL), as he personally thanked staff members for keeping London Underground running during the coronavirus pandemic, telling them: "I don't know how you do it."
READ: 14 times the royals looked picture perfect in tartan
WATCH: Charles and Camilla arrive by bus to London Transport Museum in March
In a lighter moment during the socially distanced visit, which took place at the Ashfield House training centre near West Kensington Tube station in west London, Mr Khan revealed Charles had been gifted with some face coverings. He said: "He's been given three. He's looking forward to wearing them out and about and stuff - it's not his own tartan by the way."
Charles and wife Camilla have recently returned to London after isolating at their Scottish residence, Birkhall, on the Queen's Balmoral estate. The royal family has their own Balmoral tartan, which is predominantly grey with overchecks of red and black and was designed by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, in 1853. It is worn by the Queen and several members of the royal family, but only with Her Majesty's permission.
The Mayor of London with Prince Charles
The TfL network has been in operation throughout the coronavirus pandemic, helping enable NHS staff and other key workers to travel to and from their jobs during lockdown. At the height of the pandemic, around a third of Tube staff were off work as they were ill, shielding or self-isolating but many of them have returned to the frontline and it is now operating over 90 per cent of weekday services.
The Mayor of London said about Charles: "He reached out to us and said 'I want to say thank you, because I know you've kept the city going.'"
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Charles thanked Tube workers
He added: "The great thing, he's met everyone from cleaners who are crucial to keeping public transport clean, the deep cleaning, to the commissioner - so you can see the response in their faces.
"There's a ripple effect with him coming down, they'll speak to their colleagues who will speak to their colleagues, but their families will know that His Royal Highness came to say thank you.
"But for the public transport running during the lockdown, NHS workers, care workers, those who work in shops wouldn't be able to get to work to serve our city."
The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall met with Mr Khan during a visit to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden in early March, where they celebrated the 20th anniversary of Transport for London. The couple delighted royal fans by travelling from Clarence House to the museum on an environmentally friendly double-decker bus.
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