King Charles to mark 76th birthday by opening two food distribution centres

The King will also attend a 'surplus food festival'

The monarch, whose birthday is on Thursday, will open one of the hubs in person and the other virtually.

The centres are the first two Coronation Food Hubs, set up by the Coronation Food Project, which is an initiative to support charities that feed the nation with unwanted food.

The two hubs will be opened on the first anniversary of the project being set up.

The aim is for the hubs to aid charities such as FareShare and the Felix Project in supporting communities in need, Sky News reports.

King Charles will also attend a "surplus food festival" at one of the hubs, which will feature meals created from food that would otherwise have gone to waste.

The two hubs are the first of a network that the Coronation Food Project is investing in to add capacity to warehouse, boost cold storage facilities and fund lorries, vans and drivers to boost their distribution capacity.

According to Buckingham Palace, the project has already saved an additional 940 tonnes of surplus food, the equivalent to 2,240,000 meal portions.

The palace said "remarkable progress" has already been made towards reaching the project's goals.

Around £15m has been raised to eventually set up a network of up to 10 hubs across the country.