'Does he not see the irony?' asked as King Charles opens Merseyside food bank hub

There have been mixed reactions to King Charles opening a new hub in Merseyside to distribute produce to food banks. Yesterday, to mark his 76th birthday, he opened two sites as part of his Coronation Food Project - one in London and one on Lees Road, Kirkby.

The food hub will enable charity FareShare’s operations to provide more food that would otherwise go to waste to local communities and people in need across Merseyside and the wider region. The hub will work to distribute produce to food banks and pantries and its opening of the new hub was supported by donations from the Steve Morgan Foundation and others.

In the Coronation Food Project’s first year, 940 tonnes of additional surplus food has been rescued, with 1,900 tonnes more donated; £715,000 has been circulated in community food grants; and £15m has been raised to officially open the first two Coronation Food Hubs in Merseyside and South London.

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Charles, whose private fortune is estimated to be worth around £1.8bn, attended the opening ceremony via video link and said: “Please give my kindest wishes to everybody there. I hope it makes an enormous difference to all their remarkable work that they do.”

Responding to the news on the Liverpool ECHO Facebook page, readers had differing reactions and most were not that impressed. Simon Rigby was pleased, however, saying: "And on his birthday too. Happy Birthday to the King."

Elouise Edwards said: "I’d be ashamed as king to open such a thing in England." Linda Wiggins added: "He should be onto the government to see why this is happening in this day and age."

George Johnson asked: "Does he just not see the irony?". Colin Saunders said: "Man with a gold coach and a gold hat opens a foodbank? There's something wrong in that sentence."

Earlier this month, an investigation revealed the profits that are made by the King from the River Mersey, causing concern for local people and leaders. The Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches programme released their joint investigation into the property empires making millions for King Charles and Prince William.

The newspaper report and television programme included a focus on the River Mersey and its links to King Charles. It revealed that the King's private estate, The Duchy of Lancaster, owns the coastline from Barrow to the River Mersey and because of this, charges the Liverpool City Region's publicly-owned Mersey Ferry a yearly fee for mooring at its pier, which happens to be on Duchy land.