by The King and Queen Consort celebrated the contribution East and South East Asian communities make to Britain by hosting a reception at Buckingham Palace.
The royal couple greeted and spoke to guests, including fashion designers Alexa Chung and John Rocha, the Crown Prince of Selangor, Malaysia, and “Korean English” YouTubers, at the palace on Wednesday night.
The reception was attended by more than 300 people from various sectors; including arts, media, fashion, business and healthcare, with champagne and canapés served throughout the evening.
Other members of the royal family joined the celebratory event: the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Kent, the Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alexandra.
Guests gathered in the White Drawing Room, Blue Drawing Room, and Picture Gallery to greet their royal hosts.
Ms. Chung, in a sparkling dress, told reporters that she had “a great time.”
Rocha, a Hong Kong-born Irish-Chinese designer, said he was “very proud” to be at the reception.
He told the PA news agency that it was unbelievable that he was born “in a colony” and now he is “here talking to the King.”
He called the palace “a wonderful place” and recalled talking to the King about fishing when he came to collect his CBE in 2002.
YouTubers Joshua Carrot and Oliver Kendal, who host the “Korean Englishman” channel focused on sharing South Korean culture and food, said they were “shocked” the King had heard of them.
The channel has more than five million subscribers on YouTube.
Mr. Carrot asked the King if he had ever tried Korean food.
The YouTuber told PA: “He said he was a big fan of the food. He liked everything unless it was a little too spicy.
The reception took place shortly after the Lunar New Year, celebrated by the Chinese, South Korean, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Laotian, Thai, Mongolian, Bruneian, Indonesian, Japanese, Cambodian, Filipino and East Timorese communities around the world.
In February 2022, the King and Queen Consort, when they were the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, visited Chinatown in London to mark the Lunar New Year.
They visited local shops, organizations and communities, and the King joined in a conversation about hate crimes against the Chinese and the broader East and Southeast Asian communities.
Meanwhile, the Queen Consort visited the China Information and Counseling Center, where she met with police officers, immigration caseworkers and clients.
