King Charles Plays an Instrument Made from a Carrot amid Return to Royal Work After Hospitalization

King Charles was feeling the "beet" and played a carrot at a royal reception one week after he was hospitalized following an adverse reaction to his routine cancer treatment.

On April 3, the King, 76, held a reception to celebrate music in communities at Windsor Castle, organized to recognize the importance of community music. The arts are one of King Charles' passions, and he hosted the event with his first cousin Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester and his wife, Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester, who are both full-time working royals.

The royal trio hosted 350 guests from the music community, many of whom volunteer and work to educate the next generation through choirs or bands. They were treated to performances by the London Gay Men’s Chorus, the Royal College of Music, the Songs for Ukraine Chorus, the Sing for Freedom Choir and artist YolanDa Brown in the Waterloo Chamber and mingled with the guests during a reception in St. George's Hall.

Also in attendance was the London Vegetable Orchestra, famed as the U.K.'s only ensemble to perform with instruments made of local vegetables, which was launched a decade ago by Royal Academy of Music students.

The pupils became professionals and have kept the orchestra going since, performing today with peppers, potatoes, swedes (the British equivalent of rutabaga) and carrot recorders. 

In a surprise scene, the King played a carrot recorder, laughing as he experimented with the vegetable instrument!

Later in the day, the royal family posted a social media video of the London Vegetable Orchestra quartet's impressive rendition of "Let It Be" by The Beatles outside Windsor Castle. 

The outing was one of several official engagements that the King made this week and came one week after Buckingham Palace announced that he had been briefly hospitalized due to an adverse reaction to his ongoing treatment for cancer.

On March 27, the palace announced that the British monarch was hospitalized at The London Clinic "following scheduled and ongoing medical treatment for cancer this morning" after experiencing "temporary side effects that required a short period of observation in hospital." The King's cancer diagnosis was announced in February 2024, and his treatment is ongoing.

While aides have not disclosed his diagnosis or treatment program, palace sources say his recovery continues to trend in a positive direction.

"The most minor bump in the road that’s very much heading in the right direction," a royal source said. 

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The monarch called off his meetings for the rest of March 27 and returned to Clarence House, his London home, the same day, where he attended to state papers. The monarch canceled a series of engagements in Birmingham planned for that Friday and picked up with public-facing work again on April 1.

Next week, King Charles and Queen Camilla will embark on an official trip to Italy that will overlap with their 20th wedding anniversary, though they won't meet Pope Francis as originally planned amid his health concerns.