A match day volunteer at Walsall FC's Bescot Stadium was treated to a VIP day out at Wembley for his 80th birthday.

In a visit organised by Walsall FC Foundation, the team's official charity, Gary Edwards was presented with a signed shirt before Friday's semi-final, and then took a behind the scenes tour before Monday's final.

The pensioner has run the tuck shop at Bescot as a match day volunteer since the stadium was built in 1990.

He said Walsall's defeat on Monday was "disappointing", but his birthday tour was a "brilliant experience".

A Walsall fan since he was a teenager, he told BBC Radio WM that his son was a member of the junior Saddlers team when he was asked to run the tuck shop 35 years ago, and he is still doing it.

The top sellers at the moment are Haribo sweets and KitKats, he said.

After he toured Wembley with his grandson, he said the highlight was seeing the royal box and the media room, and he went on the pitch.

"We went round in the media room which was great," he said.

He described how he was able to sit behind the press conference desk imagining what it was like to be the England manager, while the man who showed them round sat in the audience.

"We went up into the royal box," he said, "And we went to where the players have the trophy after, which unfortunately wasn't Walsall."

Signed shirt

Remembering how he visited the old Wembley stadium 10 times, he said he still recalled paying seven shillings and sixpence for a ticket – which was 33p.

The original Wembley, which opened in 1923, had been famous for its twin towers.

It was demolished in 2003 to make way for a modern 90,000-capacity venue. Monday's visit was his third trip to the new stadium.

Walsall FC Foundation posted on Facebook: "To celebrate our volunteer Gary's 80th birthday, we presented him with a signed shirt before our play off semi-final on Friday.

"Thanks to EFL (English Football League) in the Community, we've also gifted him a VIP experience at Wembley Stadium on Monday ahead of the final."

"This is a big deal for the King to do this," says Jeremy Kinsman, former Canadian high commissioner to the UK, as King Charles prepares for a historic visit showing support for Canada, which is facing pressure from US President Donald Trump.

"I hope that Trump understands," says Mr Kinsman, ahead of the King becoming the first monarch to open Canada's Parliament in almost 70 years.

So what can we expect from his speech as Canada's head of state, to be delivered in French and English in Ottawa on Tuesday?

It will be written on the advice of Canada's government. But along with the workaday lines on policy plans, Mr Kinsman expects a message, loud and clear, that Canada will not be the 51st US state.

"It's going to be very affirmative of Canadian sovereignty. And I can say personally that it's something that King Charles will celebrate saying. I have no doubt," says Mr Kinsman, who worked as a diplomat with the King when he was Prince of Wales.

"It will say the government will protect, pursue and preserve the sovereignty of Canada as an independent state," he predicts about the speech, which follows an election won by Mark Carney on a wave of anti-Trump sentiment.

The King's mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, was the last monarch to open Canada's Parliament in 1957 and was also the most recent to deliver the "speech from the throne" in 1977, in a ceremony that marks the start of a parliamentary session.

She began that speech with a few of her own personal comments – so there is scope for the King to add his own thoughts.

"I don't know what pronoun they'll use. He'll be talking about the 'government proposes'. But I don't know if they'll throw in an "I". Either way he'll be identified with it," says Mr Kinsman about the personal nature of this speech from the King in Canada – a Commonwealth country and Nato partner.

It's going to be a more dressed-down event than the pomp of the Westminster state opening of Parliament. The King will be in a suit rather than a gown and crown, reading a speech that could last about 25 minutes, much of which will be about the government's legislative plans.

There are also likely to be nods to the importance of Canada's First Nations communities, in a speech that comes on the first visit to Canada from King Charles and Queen Camilla since the start of their reign.

The King, invited by Mr Carney, will have to balance a message of solidarity with Canada, without jeopardising the UK's relationship with the US.

"The King has long experience and great skill in walking that diplomatic tightrope," says a royal source.

"He's held in high regard around the globe and across the political spectrum, with good relations with world leaders who understand his unique position."

Mel Cappe, a former Canadian minister and senior civil servant, has been involved in preparing such speeches from the throne, usually delivered by a governor general.

He expects the King to add a "few paragraphs of his own at the beginning" to "give his own personal view", but the overall text of the speech will be approved by Canada's prime minister and his officials.

"He's not going to poke President Trump in the eye. That would cause a problem for Canada. On the other hand he isn't going to suck up to Donald Trump," says Prof Cappe, who was also a high commissioner to the UK.

He believes this intervention could have a big impact: "Symbolically this is huge. President Trump has a lot of admiration for the monarchy. He is impressed by the royals."

This royal moment will be a platform for Canada's government to talk about tariffs and to mention the visit to the White House where PM Carney said Canada would "never" be for sale, says Prof Cappe.

"So somewhere in that speech, look for the word "never"," he says.

President Trump, as shown in his recent controversial White House meetings with South Africa's President Ramaphosa and Ukraine's President Zelensky, can be an unpredictable diplomatic partner.

"The old alliances are breaking down," says Mr Kinsman. And against a background of such uncertainty, King Charles has been part of an unexpected international balancing act.

He became a key part of the charm offensive to maintain the UK's good relations with President Trump, with an invite for a second state visit. Now he's going with a message of reassurance to the Canadians.

Sir Keir Starmer has been using the King to get closer to Trump, while Mark Carney is using him to keep Trump further away.

"He isn't anybody's tool or fool. This is something that he believes… It genuinely is something that he wants," says Mr Kinsman about the King's support for Canada.

The former diplomat remembers how much the then Prince Charles showed a personal affection for Canada and a sense of duty towards its people. A planned trip last year had to be cancelled because of his cancer diagnosis.

There are many strong links. The throne on which the King will sit to make his speech includes wood from Windsor Great Park – part of the Crown Estate.

Mr Kinsman says that many Canadians have been traumatised and upset by what he calls the "appalling" language of President Trump over wanting to take over Canada. It's shaken their view of the world and the new prime minister will be expected to stand up to the US.

Mr Carney has said that Canadians were not "impressed" by the UK's invitation to President Trump for a state visit. But Mr Kinsman says that's Canadian understatement for being "disgusted" by the invitation. It really rankled.

Nonetheless he says that many Canadians are pragmatic enough to see the UK needs to keep good relations with the US and that the King – who is head of state of both the UK and Canada – has to play both roles in this "strange duality".

That's rejected by Peter Donolo, a director of the Canadian International Council think tank, who believes there is an impossible contradiction in the King being different things for different countries.

"On the one hand they're using Charles in the UK to curry favour with the Americans and then it seems our government wants to use him to stand up for Canada. You can't have it both ways," says Mr Donolo.

He sees the monarchy as "irrelevant" to this dispute with the US. "It won't have any impact on how Trump views Canada," says Mr Donolo.

In theory the King acts in two separate and distinct roles, taking advice from the UK government on UK matters and advice from the Canadian government in Canada. There are differences too. In Canada, the reference to the King as "defender of the faith" was scrapped from his title.

Elizabeth McCallion, who teaches political science at the University of Toronto, thinks many Canadians don't really have much interest in the constitutional complications around the role of the King.

But she says people in Canada were profoundly offended by Trump's aim to annexe their country – and were "disappointed" that they had relatively little backing from the UK, which seemed to be "buddying up to Donald Trump".

They're now watching to see what the King might say to support them.

"People are recognising that this is momentous," she says.

Friends of a couple who were among four people killed in a cable car crash near Naples say they are "devastated" at their deaths.

Elaine and Graeme Winn, who lived in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, died alongside two others in Thursday's crash at Monte Faito, near Naples.

Local officials have said they believe the mountain cable car cabin plunged to the ground after one of the cables supporting it snapped.

Friends say the pair were keen motorcyclists, and on Sunday at a meeting outside the Black Horse in Foxton, fellow bikers and members of a club paid tribute.

Karina Mottley was one of many bikers who turned out to pay their respects to the Winns.

"They were the founders of the club, so we spent most weeks and weekends together, riding bikes and doing social things," she said.

"They were literally the best people I think we've ever met really.

"The biking community is such a close community – not just our club, other clubs across the East Midlands have been in contact, so it's just [had] a massive impact on all the clubs.

"Everybody knew of them, and everybody loved them."

Don Moore said the Winns were deeply involved in the local biking community.

"They were a fantastic couple," he said.

"They lived [for biking] – Graeme had recently retired, Elaine was cutting down her working days so she could do more biking and holidays, and they enjoyed all of that tremendously.

"Everybody's been absolutely devastated, there's been lots and lots of lots of tears, and everybody's been down, hence us having a little meeting today.

"It's such a tragedy to go in the way they have, on a holiday that they were dreaming of as well… you don't expect to have a dream holiday and not come back."

Sarah Hix said she worked with Elaine, who was a school business manager at Welland Park Academy in Market Harborough, for about 10 years.

"She threw herself into school life," she said.

"You never think it's going to be someone that you know.

"I only got back last night, so I've not really spoken to anybody, but two or three of my colleagues have spoken to me, and we're absolutely devastated."

Andrew Shrive said he met the Winns through their shared passion for biking, and had previously been on holiday with them.

He said Elaine had been a major influence on bringing more women into biking, and said Graeme's lifelong love had seen him buy "about 45-50 different bikes".

"They're the nicest couple that I've ever known," he said.

"I'd just come back from France touring on a bike, and I'd seen there had been an incident in Italy, and I heard that two Brits were killed, [and] I knew that Graeme and Elaine go over there, but you don't think that two people you know would be the two people involved in that serious accident.

"I just couldn't believe it."

Estelle Ambler said it will take time to come to terms with their loss.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard the news, it's very shocking," she said.

"We'd only seen them last week, and they were all excited for going away on their holiday.

"I've been following them on their travels on their social media – they'd only been in Italy a couple of days, and looked like they were having the most amazing time.

"To hear what has happened to them is shocking and extremely sad."