The King spoke to a lifeboat crew about a small boat rescue and asked whether they “get a lot” of those types of call outs, during a visit to an RNLI station in Kent.
On Thursday, Charles visited Walmer Beach near Deal Castle and spoke to RNLI volunteers about their work, joined in with some litter picking and greeted members of the public.
Among the volunteers were three crew members who were being honoured for a rescue operation 10 miles off the coast on December 14 2022.
Reports from that day indicate that four people died and 43 were rescued when a small boat began taking on water.
Volunteer Daniel Sinclair told the King the small boats were “not very seaworthy” and described the operation as “traumatic”.
“Do you get a lot of those call outs?” Charles asked.
“Not so much here,” replied Mr Sinclair, adding that stations in Ramsgate and Dover are used more often for channel crossings.
The King spoke about the issue of small boats when he delivered a speech at a state banquet on Tuesday evening, marking the start of France’s President Emmanuel Macron’s three-day state visit to the UK.
He told the Windsor Castle dinner guests about the deepening co-operation between the UK and France that will protect against “profound challenges” like terrorism, organised crime and “irregular migration” across the English Channel.
Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said the UK would tackle illegal migration with “new tactics” and a “new level of intent” ahead of crunch talks to hammer out a deal with Mr Macron.
The French president said the UK and France “share the same will” to address the issue at the start of a Franco-British summit at Downing Street.
Mr Sinclair told the PA news agency: “We went to a call out on December 14 2022, for a small boat taking on water with multiple people in the water, it was a very chaotic and stressful callout for us on board our Atlantic 85.
“We saved five people’s lives, stopped them from drowning and it was bitterly cold but the adrenaline kept us going.”
He has been an RNLI volunteer for 17 years after joining up when he turned 18.
The King then went on to pick up rubbish on Walmer Beach, waving his litter picker at the crowd of residents hoping to see him.
He told one resident as he shook their hand “those shingles are very hard work”.
Deal and Walmer residents gathered in their hundreds as Charles waved and shook hands with many of them.
One man, wearing nothing on his top half, admitted “I’m a bit underdressed, aren’t I?” which the King chuckled at.
Earlier, the King met mayors and charities from the historic Cinque Ports confederation – 14 south-east coastal towns that formed an alliance, originating in the medieval period, once vital to England’s trade and defence.
The head of state had returned to Walmer Castle in Deal, the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports – a post held by the Queen Mother until her death in 2002.
Admiral Sir George Zambellas, former head of the Royal Navy, now performs the role and hosted the King’s visit, giving him a tour of the castle where he was updated on a multimillion-pound project to repair its roof.
With the majority of the Cinque Ports in Kent, including Dover, the epicentre of small boat crossing landings, Sir George was asked about the issue before Charles arrived and said it was a question for the mayors of the towns affected.
“The Cinque Ports has a 1,000-year history of south coast protection, and we don’t have a role at the moment in protecting the south coast,” he said.
When Charles met the representatives from the 14 Cinque Ports, he chatted to Stephen Bailey, Mayor of Hythe, and asked: “I remember years ago as a child going on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, is it still going?”
When he was told it was, he replied “hurrah” and mentioned another railway memory watching the famous luxury train the “Golden Arrow” in the 1950s when a boy – describing it as “very exciting”.
