At the end of the three-day visit by President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee, Charles and Camilla marked the 70th anniversary year of the end of the war between China and Soviet-backed North Korea and UN-supported South Korea.
They met the four Chelsea Pensioners, all in their nineties, in the Marble Corridor at Buckingham Palace shortly after the departure of the President and First Lady, who thanked them at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday for helping to save the country from a Communist takeover.
Peter Fullelove, 90, a veteran of the Black Watch regiment, made the King laugh by discussing his problems as a parachutist finding a clearing in the jungle during operations in another country, Malaya. The monarch had spotted his parachute wings on his red uniform.
“They dropped me in Malaya but the only problem was the bloody trees, you see,” he said. “It brought a smile to his face anyway.”
Sapper John Riley, 91, of the Royal Engineers was thanked by the King after describing his years of service. “We were clearing the minefields and the bridges that were loaded up with explosives over the Imjin River,” he said.
George Reed, 91, also of the Royal Engineers, said: “I was putting the explosives in that he was clearing up.”
Trevor John, 92, of The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, told the monarch and his wife Hoe he was seriously wounded in a mortar attack in Korea and airlifted out to a Japanese naval hospital.
He said the King had replied: “It’s tough.”
The four veterans, all celebrated as heroes in South Korea, watched proudly earlier as President Yoon and Mrs Kim said their farewells to the King and Queen at the palace grand entrance.
Mrs Kim has a large collection of dogs and cats at home and has campaigned against the traditional practice in South Korea of eating dog meat.
The King patted her on the arm as she left and said: “Hope the dogs are OK.”
Queen Camilla said: “Lovely to meet you.”
Before he got into his car for the journey to Stansted Airport, President Yoon, 62, bowed to the royal couple.
A planned visit earlier in the morning by the President to see his hero Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms did not take place, the South Koreans said, without explaining why.
