The Prince of Wales stopped off for an ice cream as he paid a visit to the seaside.

Charles enjoyed a scoop of vanilla at the family-run Brucciani’s ice cream shop in Morecambe, Lancashire, on Friday.

Amelia Brucciani, 16, who served the prince, said: “It is massively exciting.”

Her father Paolo added: “This cafe was opened in 1939, the week before the Second World War, by my grandfather.

“We’ve had quite a few famous customers, including Shirley Bassey, but we’ve never served royalty!”

Before his ice cream, Charles visited the neighbouring Winter Gardens where he praised volunteers working to restore the theatre.

As he unveiled a plaque to mark the building’s 125th anniversary, he said: “I’m so glad to have had this all-too-brief opportunity to join you today.

“As somebody who, I’m afraid, has a terrible weakness for trying to rescue heritage buildings of all kinds around this country and elsewhere with varying degrees of success, because you know as well as I do how much of a challenge it is to marshal all the resources and everything else to be able to bring these remarkable places back to life for the sake of local people and for so many valuable uses.

“I do greatly admire people like yourselves who are so passionate that you won’t give up, you manage to battle on and never take no for an answer.”

He was greeted by cheering crowds as he arrived in Morecambe and was handed a box of fishing flies by four-year-old Elizabeth Williams, whose family run the Troutflies UK shop.

Her grandfather Robert Glennon, 58, said: “He does fly fishing so we thought: why not give him a box?

“He said: ‘Let’s hope I can catch something with these.'”

Elizabeth’s mother Annie Williams, 35, added: “She was very excited to meet a real-life prince, although I think she thought he would be more like Prince Eric from Disney.”

Annie Gosling, 60, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, said she and dog Pebbles had been waiting since 9am to see Charles, who arrived shortly after 11.30am.

She said: “I think I’m going to die of excitement. He told me I’ve got a very smart dog.”

Inside the Winter Gardens, Charles also met trustees and volunteers from Morecambe Bay Food Bank, who told him they were supporting 700 families a month with food parcels.

Trustee Joanna Young said: “We’re so honoured by how interested he was.

“We’re very busy and we’re bracing ourselves for this winter.”

Charles went out onto the theatre’s balcony to see the location of the proposed Eden Project North, which is expected to open on Morecambe’s seafront in 2024, subject to funding.

He said he thought the attraction, which it is estimated will inject £200 million a year into the North West economy, would provide “real inspiration” for the town.

He also met founders and staff from LiNa Energy, a Lancaster-based firm working to produce batteries to store renewable energy, and told them the product could be “really game-changing”.

Following his visit to Morecambe, Charles met soldiers from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment and their families at Weeton Barracks, Lancashire, where he thanked them for their work.

He said: “I know we can all rely on you, whatever particular jobs come up around the world.

“The world is becoming a more unstable place every day. There is even greater risk of conflict over scarce resources and with the effects of climate change and everything else, so I am afraid you’re probably going to be needed even more in the future.”

During his visit the prince promoted the regimental mascot, a ram known as Private Derby, to the rank of Lance Corporal.