BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Britain's Prince Charles joined in a traditional folk dance Thursday during his visit to Romania, Italy and Austria, a trip seen as an effort to reassure European Union nations that Britain remains a close ally.
The prince's nine-day tour with his wife, Camilla, is designed to "highlight the U.K.'s relationship with European partners" in areas such as military ties and combatting human trafficking, according to his official website.
Britain formally triggered two years of negotiations to leave the EU on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Charles visited the Village Museum in the Romanian capital Bucharest, which features rural houses from the country's different regions. He also joined women and girls dressed in embroidered peasant blouses in a traditional jig known as "hora," and watched craftsmen painting eggs and religious icons on stone and wood.
Charles is enamored of Romania's rural traditions and owns two properties in the northwest Transylvania region, which he visits every year. He even boasts of sharing common lineage with Vlad the Impaler, the 15th century Romanian prince.
Later Thursday the royal will visit the Vacaresti wetland park, which was developed from a project initiated by late Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu in 1986 to connect Bucharest to the River Danube, 60 kilometers south of the city.
The project was abandoned after communism ended in 1989.