Prince Charles surprises injured troops with visit

Britain's Prince Charles paid a surprise visit to injured troops this week.

The second-in-line to the British throne made the morale-boosting trip to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, on Wednesday (09.03.11) where he spent three hours meeting wounded service personnel and medical staff.

He has made regular visits in recent years to the RCDM, which cares for soldiers wounded in Afghanistan, but the staff at the unit were taken by surprise when they learned they were to receive the royal visitor with only a day's notice.

Helen Gyves, the hospital's matron for critical care said: "I believe that he had an appointment today already and it was cancelled and he had this slot and he asked if he could come to see the patients, which is quite amazing really. We weren't expecting this at all - we only found out yesterday.

"He always comes at Christmas...and we wouldn't normally expect to see him until the summer. I think he tries to come a couple of times a year.

"How special is that, to say that he has got a slot and to ask to come and see them?"

Charles, who was wearing a Parachute Regiment tie, spent around 20 minutes speaking to military and civilian staff in the foyer of the £545 million hospital, before visiting injured troops in the intensive care unit and the trauma ward.

Helen went on to praise the prince for his kindness, saying: "He says something different to each family, he thinks of something different and something familiar to them.

"I think they feel that he has taken time out. He gives the impression that he is there to talk to them and he is calm, and he is very gentle and listens."