It's Charles-mania in Croydon! King is mobbed by screaming teenagers during visit to the BRIT School ahead of 78th birthday

The King was mobbed by screaming teenagers as he visited the inspirational BRIT School in south London today.Hundreds of excited creative arts pupils met him outside the building screaming his name, as his police officers struggled to stop him being crushed.‘Yes, boss!’ shouted one, making Charles chuckle. ‘King Charles, oh my days!’ yelled another.His Majesty is marking his 78th birthday with a day of engagements celebrating talent and community in Croydon, ahead of his actual birthday tomorrow, which he will celebrate privately.He began the day at the world-famous BRIT School which boasts alumni including Adele, Amy Winehouse, Tom Holland and RAYE, alongside thousands of performers, designers, technicians, producers and professionals working across the UK’s creative industries.The BRIT School is a non fee-paying state school for young people aged 14-19 that focuses on the creative arts.The King was greeted by fashion students who held an impromptu catwalk show including an inflatable ‘lifeboat dress’.The King was mobbed by screaming teenagers as he visited the inspirational BRIT School in south London todayHundreds of excited creative arts pupils met him outside the building screaming his name, as his police officers struggled to stop him being crushed. ‘Yes, boss!’ shouted one, making Charles chuckle. ‘King Charles, oh my days!’ yelled another His Majesty is marking his 78th birthday with a day of engagements celebrating talent and community in Croydon, ahead of his actual birthday tomorrow, which he will celebrate privatelyHe then went to watch a ‘powerful’ performance by students Daisy and Fatima about youth on youth crime and chatted to them afterwards about the community projects they undertake.Blue Lights, an Applied Theatre project, uses performance to engage young people on issues affecting their communities and demonstrates the school's belief in creativity as a force for positive change.Charles also met his old friend, Lord Lloyd Webber, a long-term supporter of the school who accompanied him to watch a brilliant performance from the musical Chess.‘It's amazing who you find in these corridors lurking,' beamed the King.He told the students afterwards they were ‘so energetic and impressive’, adding: ‘You must have a good choreographer,’ and made a point of shaking their hand, prompting the students into a collective ‘awww’.Upstairs in the digital suite he learnt about the wide variety of talents nurtured at the school including animation and gaming but volunteered that he might stick at his age to watercolours.Downstairs his visit was marked by a ‘flash mob’ medley, the King asking the students afterwards in genuine admiration how they remembered all their moves.Outside so many students had gathered screaming his name that the King decided to plunge in and say hello, shaking hands and asking them about their courses.One boy could be heard shouting he had shaken the monarch’s hand.‘You’ll be shaking his car’s wheels as well if you don’t stand back,’ said a member of staff.‘I don’t care, I’ll die happy!’ The student replied. Charles also met his old friend, Lord Lloyd Webber, a long-term supporter of the school who accompanied him to watch a brilliant performance from the musical Chess Charles began the day at the world-famous BRIT School which boasts alumni including Adele, Amy Winehouse, Tom Holland and RAYE, alongside thousands of performers, designers, technicians, producers and professionals working across the UK’s creative industries The King (pictured with Education Secretary Lucy Powell), went to watch a ‘powerful’ performance by students Daisy and Fatima about youth on youth crime The King was greeted by fashion students who held an impromptu catwalk show including an inflatable ‘lifeboat dress’ Charles then went to watch a ‘powerful’ performance by students Daisy and Fatima about youth on youth crime and chatted to them afterwards about the community projects they undertake Charles told the students afterwards they were ‘so energetic and impressive’, adding: ‘You must have a good choreographer’ Founded in 1991 to break down barriers to the creative industries, The BRIT School mantra is that talent and ambition, rather than background, determines opportunity.The monarch, following in the footsteps of his wife, Queen Camilla, as well as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Harry, who have all visited previously, was shown the breadth of creativity that exists across the school, from fashion, theatre and dance to digital arts, gaming and visual effects.The school's Production Arts pathway consistently delivers some of BRIT's strongest graduate employment outcomes, reflecting the demand for highly skilled backstage and technical professionals across the creative industries.In 2025, 99 per cent of graduates progressed into higher education, training or employment within three months of leaving the school.Students study a range of disciplines including Visual Arts & Design, Production Arts, Applied Theatre, Dance, Music, Musical Theatre, Theatre and Digital Arts.Lord Lloyd Webber said: ‘ My great passion is to get music into schools, in more schools. I think people know the BRITS school for the famous performers, but it's so much more. The first moment I came here I was blown away.‘It's brilliant to have everybody learning every conceivable discipline. The brilliant thing is that it does the performing arts, but it does everything else. It does sound, design, costume making…..‘People don't realise it's the live performing arts which are the life blood of this country. Far bigger than movies I mean, it's extraordinary. And we, in Britain, we are absolutely bucking the trend of everything. 'In America at the moment there are no new shows really opening on Broadway because Broadway is so expensive to do anything now.‘I'm thrilled to say that we are in this country leading the way. It's just thrilling. The King is pictured walking with the Chair of the BPI, YolanDa Brown, during his visit to The BRIT School The school's Production Arts pathway consistently delivers some of BRIT's strongest graduate employment outcomes, reflecting the demand for highly skilled backstage and technical professionals across the creative industries Downstairs his visit was marked by a ‘flash mob’ medley. The King asked the students afterwards in genuine admiration how they remembered all their moves Upstairs in the digital suite he learnt about the wide variety of talents nurtured at school including animation and gaming but volunteered that he might stick at his age to watercolours He then went to watch a ‘powerful’ performance by students Daisy and Fatima about youth on youth crime and chatted to them afterwards about the community projects they undertakeTalking about the threat of AI he said he believed the arts would always survive. ‘Well, the thing is, it's that, you've got to remember, AI is a data processing machine. So it's only as good as what people input. 'And so, it's never going come up with anything that's truly original. That's it. There’s going to be things it’s fantastic for and things that are dangerous.‘I was with Lin-Manuel Miranda the other night who wrote Hamilton, and we were just saying do you think it (AI) would have come up 10 years ago, 12 years ago, with the idea, of taking a minor founding Father of America, and do it in hip hop? Do you think A.I. would have said to me, 40 years ago, take the whole load of poems by T.S. Eliot about cats and make it a musical? Because no, is the answer. ‘So I think that, you know, AI's got incredible uses. But it's never going to come up with anything that's truly, truly original, because that's what we do.’Principal Stuart Worden said of the visit: ‘I think it's inspiring. A school that is underfunded, where the arts aren't really fully appreciated….I think it's amazing that the King should value the school, should value young people, should value the arts. 'We don't value the arts or young people enough sometimes in this country. And for the head of state, the King, to come to this school in Selhurst today, it's inspiring for them to know that they've been seen and valued.‘We are fundraising £3million a year because of the gap in what the government give the school and what the school needs to have all these facilities for free.'So I hope that it's made great impact today. ‘This is life changing for them. these young people come from challenging backgrounds, they can't afford guitars – they're free here – they can't afford dance lessons and they're all free here. 'So for people from those backgrounds have access to the monarch, the King, is quite powerful.’