King Charles jokes former UK chancellor should ‘keep trying’ to make Britain ‘great again’
By Izzie Addison, Press Association
The King told Sir Jeremy Hunt to “keep trying” when the former UK chancellor told him he was writing a book on how to “make Britain great again”.
Mr Hunt, 59, was knighted by the King at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.
The politician said: “He asked me what I was doing, and I said I was writing a book on how to make Britain great again, and he said, ‘Well, keep trying’, with a twinkle in his eye.”
It’s a lovely moment. Politics is a lot of rough and tumble but I feel incredibly honoured to be recognised in this way, so it’s a happy day
Mr Hunt also thanked the King for writing a letter to his 11-year-old daughter, and for visiting his friend at a south London hospice to invest her as a Dame shortly before she died.
The King visited Dame Sarah Anderson, who was founder and chief executive of suicide prevention charity The Listening Place, at Royal Trinity Hospice in Clapham Common on December 5th, two days before her death.
The Conservative MP said: “We’re so lucky with our King, we had a very nice chat.
He said: “I thanked him because he visited the hospice last week and gave a damehood to a friend of mine, which was an incredible thing to do because she sadly passed away on Sunday, so he made a special journey to see her, and I think my friend was incredibly moved by that.
“I also thanked him for a letter he wrote to my 11-year-old daughter, who had written to him when he was ill.”
As well as serving as chancellor, Mr Hunt, who grew up in Surrey, was foreign secretary, health secretary, and culture secretary in past Tory governments.
Others to receive an honour at Windsor Castle on Tuesday included wheelchair tennis champion Andy Lapthorne and Traitors host Claudia Winkleman, who was made an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List this year for services to broadcasting.
It comes as Winkleman prepares to leave Strictly Come Dancing at the end of its current series.
Winkleman, 53, has hosted the BBC show alongside Tess Daly, who will also step down from the role, since 2014.
