King Charles and Queen Camilla Make Surprise Trip to Northern Ireland

On Wednesday afternoon, the King and Queen stepped out in Belfast for their historic first visit to Northern Ireland since their coronation on May 6. The trip is also the King and Queen's first official trip out of England since the crowning ceremony. The royal couple was all smiles when they arrived at Hazelbank Park in Newtownabbey to open the new Coronation Garden, created to celebrate their crowning and mark the start of a new green initiative for the community.

King Charles, 74, and Queen Camilla, 75, had the honor of opening the gates and met designers behind the new space, landscaped with the same sustainable principles the King and Queen employ.

“They were wonderful – I got to spend a little bit of time with them, we went into the quiet garden with the water dancing and they were asking me where the plants came from, the idea behind the design, and they couldn’t have been nicer,” garden designer Diarmuid Gavin told The Independent of his time with Charles and Camilla, who are known to share a love of gardening and country life.

The royals checked out the garden from the pavilion balcony, bright with Irish wildflowers, topiary and conical trees. Then, they met with school children participating in coronation-themed projects, community volunteers who pitched in during The Big Help Out as well as recipients of The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, The King’s Award for Enterprise and The Duke of Edinburgh Bursary.

The King and Queen couldn’t help but laugh during their final duty — cutting into a crown-shaped cake! The decadent confection looked like the historic St. Edward Crown, which the Archbishop of Canterbury used to crown Charles on May 6.