Buckingham Palace has marked King Charles III's 77th birthday Friday with the release of a new photo of the monarch.

The image, taken in May by photographer Millie Pilkington, shows Charles in the gardens of Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, with the sprawling stately home behind him.

Other photos , seemingly taken at the same time, show him wandering Sandringham's gardens and tending to a maple sapling. They were published in the magazine Country Life on Wednesday to mark Charles' restoration of the historic gardens.

On Friday, the King and Queen Camilla traveled to a reception at Cyfarthfa Castle, about 25 miles north of the Welsh capital, Cardiff, where he cut into an enormous birthday cake shaped like the castle.

He later officially opened the South Wales Metro Train Depot, briefly

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