The King joked about ageing as he met patients on a visit to a new hospital in the West Midlands.
Crowds of staff, patients and volunteers gathered to welcome Charles to the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital on Wednesday as he officially opened the 736-bed facility in Smethwick.
The monarch was greeted by cheers and waving flags before he visited one of the hospital’s acute elderly care wards, where he met 85-year-old patient Jacqueline Page, from Great Barr.
Mrs Page said she was “delighted” to meet Charles after seeing him in 1978 with her parents when he came to Birmingham to open Perry Barr Stadium.
She said: “You came in the helicopter, and you got out and came straight towards my parents.
“They shook hands with you but I didn’t get a look in, so I’m so delighted to meet you today.”
The King said: “It was a wonderful old helicopter, I seem to remember.
“I used to fly it because I had flown them in the Navy. I left the Navy in 1976 and I could still remember how to fly it, that was the great thing.”
The pair also shared a joke about their health, with Mrs Page telling the King she was “wearing out”.
The King responded: “I know, this is the terrible thing, as I am discovering already. The bits don’t work so well when you get past 70.”
The royal also chatted with patient Matthew Shinda, 73, who is receiving treatment for prostate cancer and is from Oldbury.
He told Charles “it is nice to see you are recovering well”, to which the King replied: “I am not too bad.”
The King asked Mr Shinda what he liked to drink, to which his daughter said he “loves his malts”.
After asking Mr Shinda if the hospital staff allow him to have a “tiny dram of whisky occasionally”, the King said: “I knew I should have brought one, it is supposed to be good for the heart.”
After his visit to the ward, the King met the first baby to have been born at the hospital after it opened its doors on October 6 last year and her parents, Semhar Tesfu and Yonas Kflu, from Perry Barr.
Hernata Yonas arrived at 8.48am, just 90 minutes after the maternity ward opened its doors for the first time.
The King greeted the crowds of hundreds of patients, staff, medical students and volunteers, who cheered, clapped and took selfies as he stopped to shake their hands and speak to them.
Sir David Nicholson, chairman of the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, said it was a “tremendous honour” to have the King unveil a plaque marking the official opening.
He said: “This is a day of immense pride, not just for those of us who have been part of this project since its inception, but the entire community that will benefit from this world-class facility for generations to come.
“Your Majesty, it is with deepest gratitude and immense pride that we welcome you here today to officially open the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.”
The hospital visit was the King’s second engagement of the day in the West Midlands, as he earlier toured the Oratory of St Philip Neri in Birmingham following the canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
The King viewed historic items in the library and the cardinal’s personal effects in his room, which has remained untouched since his death in 1890.
