Charity campaigner ‘broke protocol’ to spend more time with King Charles at Windsor ceremony
King Charles has a way of ending conversationsA grieving charity campaigner has revealed how he broke royal protocol to get the opportunity to speak to King Charles for a longer period at Windsor Castle.
Mark King was presented with an OBE for his services to charity last month. In 2011, his son, Oliver, heartbreakingly died after suffering a cardiac arrest at the age of 12 during a swimming lesson at school. Oliver died from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome, a hidden heart condition.
Since his son’s death, Mark has devoted his time and energy into improving access to defibrillators in places such as schools, sports facilities, and community centres, through the Oliver King Foundation. And his charity campaign has now been backed by King Charles.
King Charles’ reaction revealed
Speaking to the BBC, Mark revealed that he immediately began joking with King Charles. When the monarch gave him his OBE, Mark responded that it was being passed “from one king to another”.
But it seems the allocated time wasn’t long enough for Mark. So, he found the way to spend a bit more time with the king. However, in doing so, he seemingly broke royal protocol.
Mark admitted he “had not finished” talking about things with King Charles, even though he was told in advance how long he would have.
He explained: “I was talking to him and he was interested. You know when someone is interested. And he was.”
I thought, ‘I haven’t finished talking to you.’
Mark even admitted his own shock when Charles knew about his charity, and even asked him about his late son.
In the briefing before, Mark was told he would have two or three minutes with King Charles. When it was time for the royal to move on, Charles would put his hand out.
The charity campaigner explained: “I thought, ‘I haven’t finished talking to you.’ And he put his hand out. So, I just put mine on top of his for a few seconds more.”
However, luckily for Mark, King Charles seemed to find the humour in the situation.
Mark admitted: “He knew and he burst out laughing. But it was great. The whole experience was fantastic. To be fair, he knew a lot about the foundation and he said, ‘tell me about Oliver.'”
What is the Oliver King Foundation?
The Oliver King Foundation was set up after Mark lost his son Oliver, unexpectedly.
Since the foundation was established, the foundation has installed thousands of defibrillators in public spaces, trained thousands of people in life-saving CPR techniques, and worked to ensure that schools and organisations have the resources they need to respond to cardiac emergencies.
Amazingly, there have been 7,000 machines given out – and more than 80 lives saved – due to the foundation’s work.
But Mark doesn’t want to stop there. He wants to set up the first UK cardiac testing and prevention centre in Liverpool.
And with King Charles’ support, he is hopeful for the future.
Sounds like it really was an amazing interaction!
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