King jokes plaque will go in the 'downstairs loo'

The King has joked during a visit to a "trailblazing" solar panel company that the plaque commemorating his appearance would be placed in the firm's "downstairs loo".

His Majesty visited Oxford Photovoltaics (Oxford PV) in Yarnton, near Kidlington, on Friday, where he met employees.

The company develops advanced solar panels that are capable of converting more of the sun's spectrum into clean energy, which the King described as "so vitally needed".

There was a lighter moment when Charles pulled a sheet to unveil a plaque to mark his visit, quipping "disaster" after it tumbled to the ground from an easel - before joking about its potential location.

"Have we got somewhere to put it?" he asked the assembled crowd of employees, before suggesting: "Probably the downstairs loo."

The King was then presented with a customised solar panel cell engraved with the company's name and the date of his visit, which he said was "marvellous".

The head of state has been championing sustainability and climate action for decades, speaking regularly about the threat to the planet and adopting practical measures.

He told one group of staff: "I hope you can speed up the transition a bit", in an apparent reference to the aim of moving away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

"I think you're remarkable, how you've managed to keep it all going, but it does take time to get to the point where you can actually commercialise all these things," the King said.

"But we need it all badly, all your products, fantastic - applicable on one or two roofs."

David Ward, chief executive of Oxford PV, said after the visit that the firm was shipping "pilot volumes" of products to early customers.

"There's been a decade of work, getting it from a brilliant piece of science into a real module that you see here, that we could give to a customer and they put on a roof," he added.

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