King Charles III is to mark his 76th birthday by opening two hubs that will distribute large volumes of surplus food to food banks, schools and community centres.

It is the latest stage of his Coronation Food Project, designed to make better use of food that would otherwise be thrown away.

The King is treating his birthday as a working day, visiting a new food hub in south London and conducting a virtual opening ceremony for another, on Merseyside.

Since being launched, on the King’s birthday last year, the food project has saved the equivalent of 2.2 million meals.

There was some glamour for the King ahead of his birthday, as he attended the premiere of Gladiator II, on Wednesday.

Marking a TV and film industry reception, the band outside Buckingham Palace played movie themes, including from Star Wars and James Bond – which might have been for agent 00-76.

Queen Camilla missed the Gladiator II screening, as she recovers from a chest infection.

“I think I’m on the mend – but these things always take a bit of time,” the Queen said, at the Booker Prize awards, on Tuesday.

The King’s birthday will see him launching a distribution centre in south London, where charities, including the Felix Project and FareShare, can collect food and take it to help individuals and community groups.

The food comes from places such as supermarkets or the catering industry – and rather than wasting good quality unsold food, it is used to help those facing food poverty.

The King will visit a “surplus-food festival” and meet some of the people who have benefited, with the new hubs intended to increase the food saved.

So far, the Coronation Food Project has rescued 940 tonnes of surplus food, estimated as enough to make 2,240,000 meals.

The King is continuing to be treated for cancer but wants to keep focusing on his work, royal aides have said.

Although he has been on the throne for only two years, he is now the sixth longest-living British monarch.