King Charles breaks ground for UK aviation net-zero lab

Whittle Laboratory designed to become world-leading centre for innovation in net-zero aviation and energy

King Charles III cuts into the turf at the Whittle Laboratory extension in Cambridge. AP

King Charles III has broken ground at land for a £58 million ($73 million) UK laboratory extension at which efforts will be made to help the global aviation industry reach net-zero goals.

It was a couple of off-script moments that will be best remembered from the monarch’s first official engagement since his coronation on Saturday.

First the king helped a woman stuck in the mud and then he joked that his ground-breaking task at the University of Cambridge's Whittle Laboratory had been made easier by someone loosening the earth before him.

He rushed to the aid of dignitary Dame Polly Courtice when her shoes sank into the grass, leaving her momentarily stranded. King Charles helped support her while she freed herself.

A few moments earlier, as he was walking to perform the ceremonial ground-breaking, there a lump of mud already visible on the grass, prompting the king to joke: “I don't suppose it's already been done?”

He added: “It's very unfair. I was rather looking forward to doing a bit of gardening.”

The King then sank the spade into the soil, using his foot to help lift a lump of turf, before raising the spade aloft and jamming it into the ground, leaving it standing.

The Whittle Laboratory is designed to become the leading global centre for innovation in net-zero aviation and energy, bringing together experts from research and industry.

It aims to halve the time it takes to develop key technology, which can typically take up to eight years to reach the point of being considered for commercial use.

Trials at Whittle have indicated such times could be accelerated by breaking down barriers between academia and industry.

The king arrived in a Bentley to tour the existing lab on Tuesday, which he has visited twice before, in 2020 and in 2022.

He said: “I can't tell you what a joy it is to be here, my third visit. I think you'll probably be getting fed up of me by now.

“But I really wanted just to express my enormous admiration of what [director of the Whittle Laboratory] Rob Miller is doing here with the Whittle and his remarkable team.

“And of course the key exercise of all this is to keep the team and expand it, but not lose all these remarkable people who have the innovative capacity and the engineering skills to help lead what we need so badly and so urgently in order to save this planet from increasing catastrophe.

“And of course the aviation sector is critical in all this.”

The Whittle, an aerospace and energy laboratory, was opened in 1973 by Sir Frank Whittle, who founded the company that invented the jet engine while still an undergraduate at Cambridge.

King Charles broke ground for the new laboratory and unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion, watched by about 170 invited guests including university students and staff.

He met leaders from the aviation industry and from the government, including Energy Secretary Grant Shapps and George Freeman, a science minister.

He also attended a collaborative round-table meeting to discuss potential future ways to achieve a sustainable aviation industry.

Over the past 50 years the lab has helped shape the propulsion and power sectors through industry partnerships with Rolls-Royce, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Siemens.