‘You’ve never seen him like this’: The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades reveals King Charles was ‘a real joy’ and viewers will ‘be amazed’ at his appearance on the BBC series
Jay Blades has said the British public have ‘never seen’ King Charles like how he is during his appearance on The Repair Shop.
Presenter Jay, 52, and the team visited Dumfries House in Scotland for a one-off episode to mark the BBC’s centenary filmed when Charles was still the Prince of Wales.
In The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit, which aired on Wednesday at 8pm on BBC One, Charles needed help with an 18th-century bracket clock and a piece made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee by British ceramics maker Wemyss Ware.
Candid: Jay Blades has said the British public have ‘never seen’ King Charles like how he is during his appearance on The Repair Shop
He said the damaged 19th century ceramic piece fell over when someone was opening a window – ‘they didn’t own up’, he joked.
Speaking to The Mirror, Jay described the King as ‘a real joy’ to meet and said it was a ‘wow moment’ to have him on the show.
He said: ‘People often say never judge a book by its cover so you never listen to what people say until you’ve met the real person yourself.
‘It was a real joy and an honour to be working with him, wait until you see it, you’re going to be amazed. You never see him like this.’
Show: Presenter Jay, 52, and the team visited Dumfries House in Scotland for a one-off episode to mark the BBC’s centenary filmed when Charles was still the Prince of Wales
Jay previously spoke about the importance of Charles appearing on the show and speaking to someone ‘from a council estate’.
He said: ‘You’ve got someone from a council estate and someone from a royal estate that have the same interests about apprenticeships and heritage crafts, and it is unbelievable to see that two people from so far apart, from different ends of the spectrum, actually have the same interests.’
In the episode, Charles met students from the Prince’s Foundation Building Craft Programme – a training initiative that teaches traditional skills such as blacksmithing, stonemasonry and wood carving.
The monarch said: ‘I still think the great tragedy is the lack of vocational education in schools, actually not everybody is designed for the academic.
Helping hand: In The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit, which aired on Wednesday at 8pm on BBC One, Charles needed help with an 18th-century bracket clock and a piece made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee by British ceramics maker Wemyss Ware
‘I know from The Prince’s Trust, I have seen the difference we can make to people who have technical skills which we need all the time, I have the greatest admiration for people.
‘I think that’s been the biggest problem, sometimes that is forgotten. Apprenticeships are vital but they just abandoned apprenticeships for some reason. It gives people intense satisfaction and reward.’
Charles said the thing he ‘really loves’ is students returning as tutors year after year – ‘filling the school gaps’, he said.
Before the results are unveiled, Charles asked the crew: ‘Have you sorted this? The suspense is killing me.’
The monarch also lent Prince’s Foundation graduate Jeremy Cash to The Repair Shop to work with metalwork expert Dominic Chinea on a third item described as a fire set in the shape of a soldier with a poignant story behind its existence.
Jay said: ‘It was a real joy and an honour to be working with him, wait until you see it, you’re going to be amazed. You never see him like this’
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