Yikes! – the King has been drawn into a right royal ruckus that’s going on in Beanotown.
As the Beano marks its 85th birthday today, it pictures Charles wondering if he’s the monarch in the iconic comic’s home town.
Queen Camilla cheerfully reminds him that actually, kids rule the streets – only to be corrected by her stepson the Prince of Wales shouting that “Mischief rules!”, before his own wife Kate chips in: “I heard there’s NO rules!”
The four most senior royals all feature on the front of the country’s longest-running children’s comic alongside a host of sports heroes, musicians and TV favourites.
The Royal Family have been Beano stars before: Queen Elizabeth dropped into Beanotown as part of her Platinum Jubilee tour last year – which resulted in a dinosaur rampage, the theft of a crown and a custard monster on the loose.
The comic’s readers picked the stars of the 85th-anniversary edition’s cover. In a poll of 3,000 seven to 14-year-olds Man United’s Marcus Rashford was voted most inspirational celebrity, for his social campaigning as well as his football skills. Show hosts Ant & Dec were the most popular birthday party guests as well as the top choice to have as friends.
While naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough was judged likely to receive more party invites than rapper Stormzy.
The youngsters said they would prefer to have Charles and Camilla as best friends ahead of the likes of singers Adele, Lewis Capaldi and F1’s Lewis Hamilton.
But YouTuber and rapper KSI and the singer Dua Lipa were voted more inspiring than the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The royals and all the celebrities will be given a Golden Dennis & Gnasher Fan Club badge to commemorate their part in the birthday fun.
There have been 4,195 Beano issues, with more than 700 characters such as Dennis and Gnasher, the Bash Street Kids, Billy Whizz, Roger the Dodger and Minnie the Minx.
Mike Stirling, director of mischief at Beano, said the comic “continues to champion the power and joy of childhood by doing what it’s always done, showing kids being kids”.
