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King Charles stopped and chatted to a group of cyclists who were going for a ride on the Balmoral estate this summer, with the mountain bikers branding the royal ‘a very nice man’.
The monarch, 74, was hiking alone on his Scottish estate when he passed a group of mountain bikers who were filming their trip for a YouTube video.
Wearing a jacket, flat cap and carrying a walking stick, he stopped and chatted to the group, who told him they were staying on the estate.
In typical British fashion, Charles chatted to the group about the weather and revealed some of his childhood memories on the estate – including camping with his late father Prince Philip and sister Princess Anne.
The video was posted to YouTube by mountain biker Andrew McAvoy who regularly shares his McTrail Rider YouTube channel.
King Charles stopped and chatted to a group of cyclists who were going for a ride on the Balmoral estate this summer, with the mountain bikers branding the royal ‘a very nice man’
The monarch, 74, was hiking alone on his Scottish estate when he passed the group of mountain bikers, who were filming their trip for a YouTube video
Andrew revealed that he and his friends were staying at the Royal Lochnagar Distillery, and were heading for Gelder Shiel – known as the Ernie’s Bothy or the Royal Bothy – a shelter used by hillwalkers that is open to the public.
‘We’ll be staying in the bothy tonight,’ he told Charles.
‘So good. I’m so glad it works. I think because it’s is really nice. We renovated recently, but I’m trying to get more trees,’ Charles added.
‘Yeah, it’s looking looking lush compared to what it was two years ago. Do you ever stay there?’ Andrew replied.
‘No we use to,’ Charles added, ‘with my father and sister. It’s occasionally used nowadays by another generation.’
When asked if he was still on his summer holiday, the Charles replied: ‘Yes. It is wonderful up here.
‘The midges are horrendous. It’s typical.’
He added that he liked walking because it was ‘good for the soul’, despite a disappointingly brisk Scottish summer this year.
Charles has continued his mother’s tradition of spending summer in Balmoral
Wearing a jacket, flat cap and carrying a walking stick, the royal stopped and chatted to the group, who told him they were staying on the estate
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Showing his sense of humour, the king then added: ‘Take care, don’t fall off!’
Before starting his ride earlier, Andrew had joked: ‘I think Charlie boy is here because there’s guards down there with big assault rifles and stuff like that – it looks pretty cool.
‘They probably wouldn’t do that if no one important was here.’
Spotting a walker in the distance he added, ‘I think that’s a minor royal’ – before realising it was the King himself.
After meeting him, Andrew and his friends couldn’t help but comment on ‘what a nice man’ Charles was.
‘Lovely man had time for us. Nice. I’m annoyed because I didn’t want to care, but that was nice.
Charles meeting President Emmanuel Macron in France today
‘He’s a nice man. He’s walking when everyone else is driving,’ he added.
‘I‘m just perplexed. It’d be one thing to like see the King with everyone – he was just wandering down the trail on his own.’
Gelder Shiel bothy was built after Queen Victoria bought Balmoral in the late 19th century.
It is used as a bunk house for hillwalkers and was renovated in 2015 to have running water and a toilet.
While his late mother would often head up to her Scottish residence for the whole summer, Charles waited until the last week of August to go to the estate.
The King and Queen Camilla are known to prefer staying at Birkhall, their private home on the Aberdeenshire estate, but he went to Balmoral to honour his late mother.
He stayed at Scottish residence for three weeks – including during the anniversary of the late Queen’s death.
