Remarks by The King at 'A King's Trust Celebration' at the Royal Albert Hall

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, that was a jolly good joke, I thought. 

I must say, I've always wondered whether someone would put Ant and Dec back in their box… Or as the immortal Dame Edna Everage used to say, the ashtray. 

Ladies and Gentleman, I just must, for this evening, mention that I find it hard to believe that 50 years have gone by since we managed to start this Trust in 1976. It wasn't easy in those days. Quite a lot of people thought it was a very bad idea. 

Anyway, we managed it and what I really wanted to do more than anything else, was to invest in the potential and the talents of so many young people who, just for the lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, found it very difficult to know what to do. So with the help of, as you can imagine, a huge number of people, including all the wonderful mentors. I remember going around the country in those days trying to recruit these marvellous people, and we've heard from one who's done 25 years this evening. They and, as you can imagine, a huge, growing staff of The King's Trust all around the country, the sponsors, the donors, everybody and the ambassadors and ambassadresses. 

These are the people who make the whole thing work. I can just wave my arms about and hope for the best, but they deliver on the ground. All their hard work has helped so many young people. Perhaps you can imagine now how enormously proud I am, of all of them, because we now have a huge army - 1.5 million young people here and increasingly around the world - demonstrating what a difference they can make to their communities and indeed to the world generally. 

I can only say that that investment has been amply proved, and I pray it will go on as long as possible, because you'll all make a huge difference to this country and many others. 

So thank you, all of you, for the great joy everybody.