New Delhi: King Charles III of Britain visited a gurudwara in England’s Luton and had a conversation with the community leaders, volunteers and students there on Tuesday.
The 74-year-old monarch was on his first trip to east England’s Bedfordshire. He covered his head with a handkerchief, offered prayers and sat on the floor with the Sikh devotees, who greeted him with a rousing ‘Bole So Nihaaal’ – the Sikh slogan.
According to a report by BBC, King Charles was greeted by Indian-origin Professor Gurch Randhawa, member of the local Sikh congregation and Director of the Institute for Health Research at the University of Bedfordshire.
Taking to the Instagram and Twitter handles, the British Royal Family wrote, “At the newly built Guru Nanak Gurdwara, His Majesty met volunteers who run the Luton Sikh Soup Kitchen Stand. The kitchen provides vegetarian hot meals 7 days a week, 365 days a year at the Gurdwara. During the pandemic, the Gurdwara ran a pop-up Covid vaccine clinic, which was one of the first of its kind in the UK. The Gurdwara also encouraged other places of worship to tackle misinformation regarding vaccine hesitancy.”
The British monarch also visited the community kitchen and interacted with the volunteer women who were making rotis for the devotees.
In the video shared on social media, King Charles could also be seen making the traditional ‘namaste’ gesture, while happily greeting the volunteers and members of the gurdwara. He also met the children who are learning Punjabi and traditional music.
It is to be noted that the construction work for the gurudwara started in 2020 and the kitchen serves langar to 500 people every day.
The local community also runs the Luton Sikh Soup Kitchen every Sunday outside the Town Hall, serving around 150 meals.