King Charles III bangs drum for Irish music, eyes hip-hop lesson

King Charles III and Queen Camilla attempt to play a bodhrán during a celebration at Thompson Dock on May 19, 2026 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

BELFAST, United Kingdom -- King Charles III and Queen Camilla joined in with traditional Irish musicians Tuesday when they beat bodhrans, a type of drum and the monarch requested a hip-hop lesson, on a visit to Belfast.

The royal couple picked up the instruments for the performance at Thompson Dock, one of the city’s main tourist attractions and the last place that the Titanic stood on dry ground before her doomed maiden voyage in 1912.

The ship was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city before being finished at Thompson Dock.

“We happened to have a couple (of bodhrans) sitting on the seat, and the king and queen realized they were there, and they decided to join in with us at the end, it was wonderful,” said Irish music specialist Niall McClean.

McClean is a branch head of the CCE national cultural organization that is hosting the all-Ireland Fleadh, the world’s largest festival of traditional Irish music, in Belfast in August.

The showcase from August 2-9 is expected to attract over 800,000 people.

After the performance, the king and queen chatted to young musicians and dancers and expressed an enthusiasm for both the bodhran and the uilleann pipes, McClean said.

Dancer Sarah McGarry, 24, said it had been “lovely to give him a bit of a taste of the Irish culture.”

The couple, who braved rain and unseasonably chilly temperatures for the visit, later watched a hip-hop performance by nine students.

The king “wants us to teach him how to do hip-hop,” said King’s Trust ambassador Jamie Fagan. “He wants a royal hip-hop lesson, in his words.”

Charles and Camilla also met Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill.

Charles, 77, who is still undergoing treatment for an undisclosed cancer, has made numerous trips to Northern Ireland over the years both as king and heir to the throne before the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2022.

Camilla later visited a primary school known for having the most diverse make-up of any school in the region.

The 285 pupils at Fane Street Primary School in Belfast speak 47 different languages between them.

Charles meanwhile met young people and representatives of businesses supported by his King’s Trust charity which supports people aged 11-30 to build confidence, skills and employment opportunities.

The visit comes a day after Irish President Catherine Connolly said Charles had “graciously” accepted an invitation to Ireland after the two heads of state met at Buckingham Palace, in London.

That trip is expected to take place next year and would only be the second such visit by a British monarch since Ireland’s independence in 1921.

The late queen made a landmark state visit to Ireland in 2011 -- the first by a British monarch since Ireland gained independence from Britain more than a century earlier.

Connolly met Charles on Monday on the first day of an official visit to England.

AFP