Awkward moment Queen Camilla tells Ruth Jones ‘you’ve lost masses of weight’ after failing to recognise her during King’s trip to South Wales for his birthday

Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones burst out laughing today when a surprised Queen Camilla remarked on her weight loss.

The writer and actress, who has openly spoken about her ‘lifelong’ battle with her size and the new health regime which has led her to shed 4.5 stone, met Camilla on an engagement in South Wales.

Clearly not quite recognising her at first, the Queen – who has met the star previously – blurted out: ‘Haven’t you lost masses of weight?’ as Jones clasped her hand and introduced herself during a line-up.

Laughing, Jones looked surprised and delighted and said: ‘Yes I have, thank you! I’ve lost a bit of weight.’

Jones has previously described herself as having had a ‘lifelong’ battle with her weight and once underwent ‘aversion therapy’ to change her mindset to ‘hate’ chocolate.

More recently the star – who found fame in the show ‘Fat Friends’ – explained that it had taken her 22 months to get down to her current weight after being demoralised by photoshoots that led her to feel self-conscious.

She later praised Camilla’s efforts to improve literacy and encourage reading, especially amongst children.

Speaking about the King and Queen she said: ‘I think they do so much great charity work and I love what the Queen does for literacy and encouraging people to read and the King’s amazing work on environmental issues and his support of the Arts.’

A renowned workaholic, the monarch (pictured with the Queen) was determined things would be ‘business as usual’ even on his big day

The King, meanwhile, looked delighted as he celebrated his 77th birthday in style by cutting a giant cake at Cyfartha Castle, near Merthyr Tydfil, during the ‘royal-away’ day to South Wales.

A renowned workaholic, the monarch was determined things would be ‘business as usual’ even on his big day.

The monarch sliced into the Victoria sponge and buttercream creation, in the shape of Cyfartha Castle, watched on by the Queen, as guests including Ruth and fashion designer Julien Macdonald sang Happy Birthday.

Their Majesties were also joined at the 200-year-old castle by local celebrities, including actors Steve Speirs and Richard Harrington, TikTok creator Lewis Leigh and Love Island star Liam Reardon, who all hail from Merthyr.

In an offer he is not likely to have received on a birthday before, Love Island winner and fitness coach Liam told the King about his gym, adding: ‘If you’d like to come for a session together, let me know, that would be great.’

Steve said: ‘It was a real honour to see them here today in a place where we used to play as kids, it’s fantastic. The fact that he’s come here to Merthyr to celebrate is what makes it so special.’

The King and Queen then spoke to people working with their patronages, including The King’s Trust and the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), as well as local businesses Cocos Coffee and Candles and Enaid Wellness and the domestic violence charity, Safer Merthyr Tydfil.

The monarch was also presented with a coin to mark the Trust’s 50th anniversary next year, which was designed by King’s Trust alumna Jessica Gregorio and produced at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant.

The King, meanwhile, looked delighted as he celebrated his birthday in style by cutting a giant cake at the castle

The monarch sliced into the Victoria sponge and buttercream creation, in the shape of Cyfartha Castle, watched on by the Queen, as guests including Ruth and fashion designer Julien Macdonald sang Happy Birthday

Their Majesties were also joined at the castle by local celebrities, including actors Steve Speirs and Richard Harrington, TikTok creator Lewis Leigh and Love Island star Liam Reardon, who all hail from Merthyr

The King holds a fossil during a visit to Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, for a celebratory reception marking the Castle’s 200th anniversary and the King’s 77th birthday

The King and Queen wave as they depart from a visit to Cyfarthfa Castle on Friday

Designer Julien, who is an ambassador for the ROS, showed the King and Queen a dress he designed for Dame Shirley Bassey and which he had brought back specially from Monte Carlo to exhibit at the castle for their visit.

Dame Shirley has worn the yellow Italian silk georgette gown, embellished with 20,000 Swarowski crystals and upcycled ostrich feathers, to a Royal Variety Performance and to open a world tour.

The Queen has previously attended one of Julien’s fashion shows in aid of the Royal Osteoporosis Society as the charity’s President.

She took on the role in 2001, having got involved with its work following the deaths of her mother Rosalind Shand and grandmother Sonia Keppel from the disease.

The royal couple had braved Storm Claudia and torrential downpours to visit south Wales, where despite the weather, hundreds had gathered to greet them.

Despite running over their scheduled time at the castle, they both spent time shaking hands with wellwishers who had waited up to three hours to see the royal couple.

There were shouts of ‘Happy birthday!’ and ‘Penblwydd Hapus, Your Majesty!’ as the King stopped to chat to as many people as possible, accepting gifts of cuddly toys and homemade cards, while his wife was given bouquets of flowers.

‘That’s for you,’ one schoolgirl told the King, handing him a teddy bear. ‘For me?’he asked, beaming. ‘Are you sure you don’t need it?’

The monarch (pictured) was also presented with a coin to mark the Trust’s 50th anniversary next year, which was designed by King’s Trust alumna Jessica Gregorio and produced at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant

The King meets wellwishers as he leaves after a visit to Cyfarthfa Castle

‘Nice wet day!’ said the Queen, laughing, as she shook hands from beneath her umbrella and joked with one woman, shielded by her own umbrella, ‘at least you’ve got a bit of a windbreak.’

Later the King received another ‘money-can’t-buy’ gift – getting the chance to drive a tram-train as he officially opened a £100 million depot in Wales.

Charles was greeted by Huw Irranca-Davies, deputy first minister of Wales, and had a tour of the South Wales Metro Depot, a few miles north-west of Cardiff, on Friday morning.

His visit marked a ‘major milestone’ for the transport project nicknamed the ‘Welsh tube’, which is electrifying and upgrading the rail network across South Wales.

The King appeared in high spirits despite heavy rain, waving at schoolchildren as he drove the tram-train and joking that the depot staff ‘deserved a whisky’ after the official opening.

Just after 2pm, the King arrived at South Wales Metro Depot, located on the former Garth Works Industrial Estate in Taff’s Well, a village north-west of Cardiff.

The depot, which was purpose built to maintain a fleet of 36 cutting edge tram-trains, is where over 400 train crew will start and end their shifts once the tram-trains are in service next year. Locals have voted to name it The Walnut Tree Depot.

On boarding one of the tram-trains, the King took off his overcoat and eagerly took the driver’s seat. He operated the windscreen wipers before driving about 125m within the depot.

Later the King (pictured on the tram) received another ‘money-can’t-buy’ gift – getting the chance to drive a tram-train as he officially opened a £100 million depot in Wales

Charles meets dignitaries as he travels on a Stadler Class 398 Tram during a visit to officially open the South Wales Metro Depot 

Charles takes the controls of a tram-train officially named Myddfai within the depot

Charles then waved back to primary school children before gently bringing the tram-train to a halt.

Bev Hannible, 45, from Stockport, who taught the King to drive the tram-train, said, ‘He was quite keen to just get going. He said, ‘This is wonderful’. I did ask if him he’d driven a train before and he said, ‘Of course’.

‘Obviously they have changed a lot, it’s all now computer screens really but he took instruction really well. I told him what was going to happen, I waited for the signal to turn and said away you go, and he took power and off we went.

‘I said we’ve got some special little guests waiting for you and he gave them a wave.’

Hannible said this was safe to do and added that passing drivers’ often wave to each other. She said the King had been ‘better than some’ trainees she had taught over her 21 years on the railway.

The tram-trains, which have a total capacity of 252 people, are designed to operate both as conventional trains on existing railway lines and as trams on future Metro extensions.

Powered both by electrical lines overhead and battery power, they are greener and quieter than traditional trains.

The one Charles drove was also officially named Myddfai, after the small Carmarthenshire village nestled in the Brecon Beacons, where he had his Welsh residence, the 18th century coach house Llwynywermod. 

Deputy First Minister of Wales, Huw Irranca-Davies, King Charles, Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens pose with staff during a visit to Taff’s Well Transport Depot

While on board Myddfai, the King spoke to long-serving members of staff who have worked towards the completion of the new depot.

Deputy first minister Irranca-Davies complimented the King’s ‘very smooth driving’, to which Charles jokingly replied, ‘Flattery won’t get you everywhere’.

Jo Stevens, Labour MP for Cardiff East, and Secretary of State for Wales, wished him a happy birthday.

As the King disembarked the tram-train, the Eilir Owen Griffiths Singers sang Bread of Heaven (Cwm Rhondda).

He then toured the depot’s facilities and met Transport for Wales staff, including two apprentices and three members of the same family who all work at the depot. He unveiled a plaque and was gifted a repurposed piece of railway crafted into bookends.

Before his departure, the King had a group photo with Transport for Wales staff and members of the local community.

He asked when they all clocked off and said they deserved a whiskey, to which they all laughed.

The completion of the depot is a significant milestone for the South Wales Metro project, which has received £800 million worth of investment to electrify 170km of existing railway and upgrade the majority of stations.

The project aims to bring faster and more frequent journeys to the area, aiming to level up the South Wales Valleys.

Its pay-as-you-go, ‘tap on, tap off’ ticketing system – the first outside London – has already enabled over 1.8 million journeys across 95 stations in South Wales and will expand to North Wales next year.

Upgrades to stations began in 2020, with major work already delivered across lines including the Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff Bay, and Treherbert.