King Charles tours Trunk Island, celebrates 100 years of BAMZ
The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo celebrated its 100th anniversary of serving Bermuda with a special ceremony Friday with the King as guest of honour.
He toured the Trunk Island nature reserve in Harrington Sound, where he witnessed conservation work first-hand and met with middle school pupils during a lesson.
The monarch later cut a chocolate and vanilla anniversary cake in the BAMZ driveway in Flatts Village, while surrounded by volunteers and hundreds of cheering spectators.
Ian Walker, the curator for BAMZ, said having the King over was “a complete honour”, adding: “Just having His Majesty here is so special to us. I think his knowledge of natural history and his understanding of many of the things we’re doing is remarkable.
“He loved seeing the kids and I think that was a magical moment. He even got to shake some of their hands.”
The King sailed to Trunk Island at about 12.30pm after a tour of St George’s.
He spoke to instructors and Dellwood Middle School pupils with the Kids on the Reef programme, which offers two days of education on marine science and Bermuda’s ecosystems.
Pupils talked him through a lesson on the porch of the Trunk Island Education Centre.
One pupil explained they had to identify coral species by their scientific and colloquial names and introduced the King to his favourite coral species — Diploria labyrinthiformis or grooved brain coral.
Alex Amat, the lead ocean teacher for Kids on the Reef, said the children also learnt about the dangers of coral bleaching, ocean acidification and the impacts of climate change.
Commenting on the programme, King Charles said: “[It] beats being in class — you can be in proper nature.”
Dellwood Middle School’s M2 class started their first day of the Kids on the Reef workshop during King Charles’s visit to Trunk Island.
The youngsters will research and present a project on ocean acidification, threats to coral reefs, invasive species or climate change.
They will also learn breath-holding techniques before snorkelling around North Rock.
Linda Parker, who leads educational programmes for the Bermuda Zoological Society, the main support charity for BAMZ, said the hands-on approach was central to effective learning.
She added: “Seeing is believing on this island because it’s a living classroom, so it’s really making real what they’re learning.
“For example, they’re identifying the corals now, but when they go snorkelling they’re probably going to see some.
“It’s bringing everything alive, which makes it much more memorable for them to remember and it provides an opportunity that many of them might not have ever had.”
Philippe Bacon, the president of BZS, said “everything focuses on education” on Trunk Island.
He said: “We get nearly 8,000 come through our schools programmes on the aquarium side and here each year so they can get hands-on experience.
“If you get them out of the classroom, they can see what goes on under the ocean and what happens above with all the fauna.
“They can understand the ecological impact that they’re having with us.”
Mr Bacon added: “Having the King here, who’s a huge supporter of everything I’ve just described, is magical. Just magical.”
The monarch then toured an outdoor clearing known as the fire pit, where instructors explained the pupils’ lessons on soil composition.
He questioned the youngsters about different subjects, from their thoughts on the lessons to their upcoming Cambridge exams.
The King even joked: “If you don’t pass, you can always blame me.”
Trunk Island volunteers took him through the palmetto forest and introduced him to five land hermit crab specimens.
He learnt there were only about 1,500 specimens alive in the wild and that Trunk Island served as a space to help restore their numbers.
The monarch then went to Mangrove Pond to learn about the role red and black mangrove trees played in wetland habitats and shoreline protection.
Nick Coelho, a micro forest officer with the Bermuda Zoological Society, told him about “the battle of the invasives” and the necessity of replanting Bermuda’s native trees.
“Conservation and education go hand-in-hand,” he said.
Mr Coelho then explained the importance of the Bermuda cedar to the island’s history and culture, and later helped the King plant a cedar sapling near the pond.
King Charles closed his visit with a stop at the artificial longtail nests along the island’s eastern shore.
Patrick Talbot, a curator at BAMZ, and De’Aisa Symonds, a 22-year-old Bermuda College student, showed the sovereign a live longtail specimen.
Mr Talbot explained how iconic the bird was and how many sports teams and businesses owed their names to them.
Mr Talbot and Ms Symonds later tagged the longtail and released it to the wind.
King Charles returned to the mainland and met Jaché Adams, the Minister of Public Works and Environment for the tour of BAMZ.
He later led the monarch to the driveway to make the first cut of the centennial cake before leaving for Hamilton.
North Shore Road was filled with cheering bystanders who waved Union Flags and other Commonwealth flags.
Meanwhile, Mr Adams said he was “thrilled” to see His Majesty’s level of knowledge and interest in conservation and called the experience “very exciting”.
He added: “He was interested to know more about the sargassum, so he was asking important questions about the sargassum, but was also quite keen to see a sample of the sargassum and the organisms that live within it.
“He was championing us on our continued efforts on the advocacy of the protection of our oceans.
“It was an enjoyable conversation and something that I will take with me — and the Government will take with us — in the future.”
A conservationist, the King has frequently championed environmentalism and the importance of protecting natural spaces.
He was last year named one of Time magazine’s most influential climate leaders of 2025, and has been outspoken over genetically modified foods and launched his own organic brand, Duchy Originals, in 1990.
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