Queen Consort Camilla was unable to attend a joint outing to Milton Keynes with her husband, King Charles, after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
The King, 74, travelled alone to celebrate Milton Keynes' new city status, and shared an update on his wife's health during a brief walkabout.
WATCH: King Charles arrives in Milton Keynes to cheers despite protest
After meeting community representatives inside Church of Christ the Cornerstone, he stopped to talk to well-wisher Tazmin Farrington, who said afterwards she asked about Camilla's health and Charles replied: "She's getting better".
The Queen Consort was forced to cancel her engagements this week after contracting the virus.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Monday night: "After suffering the symptoms of a cold, Her Majesty The Queen Consort has tested positive for the Covid virus.
"With regret, she has therefore cancelled all her public engagements for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due to attend them."
Protestors were among the crowd
As the King arrived in Milton Keynes, he came face-to-face with around 20 protestors from the anti-monarchy group Republic, who held up signs emblazoned with "Not My King".
However, the monarch seemed unfazed by the demonstration as he was greeted with cheers and chants of "God Save The King".
Charles later met volunteers at a food bank in the suburbs of the city who were not expecting him.
They were only told he was visiting an hour before he arrived and the King laughed when he was told the identity of their VIP guest had been kept secret, saying: "You didn't know why?"
Charles at MK Food Bank
One of the themes of the King's first Christmas address was the cost of living crisis and the broadcast featured footage of a food bank.
Louisa Hobbs, operations manager of MK Food Bank which supports more than 5,000 families across the city, showed Charles around and said his interest was clearly "genuine" after he explicitly requested to visit a food bank in the city.
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