Prince Charles
(Picture: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Charles got back in the saddle today as he launched a charity cycle ride at Highgrove.
The heir to the throne invited 30 cyclists raising funds for his British Asian Trust to his Gloucestershire home where they started the 250-mile journey.
The “Palaces on Wheels” sponsored ride stopped at royal residences including Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and Sandringham.
Charles admitted that he had a quick practice a week or so ago but “hadn’t cycled for years” and was a little wobbly as he started.
But he quickly warmed up and hared off down the quarter mile lane leading to his country estate.
Earlier he had jokingly told the riders after seeing them that they “were a very good demonstration of why I don’t wear Lycra!”
“It’s a nightmare getting into it,’ he added.
He even got a fit of the giggles when he was handed a tiny Lycra top by one of the charity ride’s organisers, Rohit Chadda.
“Oh, have we got the wrong one?” Mr Chadda joked at the prince’s bemused expression.
“I mean I have heard about Lycra, but really!” Charles replied.
The prince, dressed in beige trousers and jacket, with a shirt and tie, was riding a borrowed British made Pashley bike.
Asked why he wasn’t tempted to go for a sportier model, Charles joked: “I don’t think my back could take it!”
Founded in 2001 by the prince with a group of prominent Asian business leaders, the British Asian Trust works to reduce poverty and disadvantage for communities in south East Asia.
