A PERFECT PERFORMANCE THE KING AND QUEEN MEET THE ACTING STARS OF THE FUTURE ON A VISIT TO RADA

They have had their own fair share of family drama, so little wonder the King and Queen chuckled during a performance about the subject at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).

Merely weeks after His Majesty took over as patron, a position once held by his mother Queen Elizabeth II, he and his wife were invited to watch a play at the London acting school to mark its 120th anniversary.

They were given a choice of three performances, said their guide, Rada president and Homeland star David Harewood, and opted for House of Ife, about a family "forced to confront the traumas they have long tried to bury". The play was written and directed by the school's acting tutor Beru Tessema and, said David, represents the "modern Rada".

Watching the students in action, their Majesties were seen laughing at times during a drama described as "tense and funny", particularly when Misheck Albert Freeman started to play Amazing Grace on a keyboard that suddenly broke.