Soap star William Roache praised King Charles III after comparing their workloads whilst at Windsor Castle.

The 90-year-old Coronation Street icon, who has played Ken Barlow for a record 62 years was awarded his OBE on Wednesday morning.

Also honoured at the royal residence in Berkshire was Band of Brothers actor Damian Lewis, Countryfile presenter Matt Baker and AstraZeneca’s chief executive Sir Pascal Soriot.

After meeting the King, 74, Roache shared that they chatted about their respective challenging workloads.

Describing the monarch as “lovely” and “very friendly”, Roache shared with the PA news agency: “He said: ‘Not still working are you?’; I said: ‘Yes, just had two ex-girlfriends on the show’.

“He said: ‘Oh that must have been work’, and I said: ‘May I wish you a long and joyful reign sir?’, and he said: ‘Thank you, that will be a lot of work too’.”

A long time supporter of the monarchy, Roache said he met Queen Elizabeth II about seven times, going on to say the King is “more easy going” than his late mother.

Harry and Meghan documentary: Palace accused of ‘feeding’ stories about duchess to the press in new Netflix trailer

Prince and Princess of Wales release family photo with George, Charlotte and Louis for Christmas card

‘They were happy to lie to protect my brother’: New claims in Harry and Meghan trailer

“The Queen was even – when she came (to visit the Coronation Street set) less than a year ago – she always listened, she was attentive she was on the ball, and didn’t miss a trick. She was very bright,” he said.

“And they always love the humour, all of them, which I like. I’m very fond of the royal family.”

Awarded an MBE for his charity work with Children In Need, Baker, 44, revealed he and the monarch also had an entertaining conversation about a herd of Hebridean sheep the presenter bought off the then-Prince of Wales during the filming of Countryfile.

“I told him, because I was feeding them this morning before I came – obviously with it being so frosty – and they’re still going strong so we had a bit of a natter about it,” he said.

The presenter also reminisced about mucking out the late Queen’s horse Emma, what he referred to as a highlight in his TV career.

Related posts:

Rudy Giuliani earns Razzie award for worst movie performance in Borat film Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten threatens legal action over TV series about band made without him Nomadland sweeps the Oscars – with big wins for British stars Daniel Kaluuya and Emerald Fennell Marilyn Manson wanted on assault charges over alleged incident at concert venue John Cena mocked for apologising to China for saying Taiwan is a country Angeline Jolie says judge in custody battle will not allow children to testify JoJo Siwa to make history in Dancing With The Stars’ first same-sex pairing Idris Elba reveals song Meghan asked him to play at her wedding to Prince Harry ‘Tell our story’: Ukraine’s president addresses Grammys stars at ceremony ‘Surreal experience’: John Travolta surprises shoppers and pub-goers with appearances in Norfolk A$AP Rocky charged with two counts of assault with firearm in Los Angeles Oscars apologises to Native American woman 50 years after Brando protest speech