Meeting 100-year-old Ken Harrison, one of the last known survivors of the original 1953 backhoe loader production line team, Charles joked that he was “so pleased the system works”, after checking Mr Harrison had received his birthday card from him.
The King met long-serving and retired employees, and former JCB Academy students, including Rhys Bradbury, 29, from Derby, who reported on the then-Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to the centre in 2011 for the school newsletter, and is now a regional sales manager.
He was about to get back into his car to leave the factory when Annette Allerton, who had waited for hours outside to meet the King, asked him if he would like to meet her dogs.
The King was greeted by cheering crowds and waving flags as he visited the world headquarters of JCB in Staffordshire, to mark the company’s 80th birthday.
He was greeted by Lord and Lady Bamford before walking the assembly line of the backhoe loader, a digger invented by JCB’s founder, the late Joseph Cyril Bamford CBE.
