Queen Camilla was left in hysterics this afternoon after two cows engaged in some very frisky behaviour at an exhibition she was viewing in Jersey.
The Queen, who turns 77 this Wednesday, couldn’t contain her laughter at an expo in St Helier when one of the Jersey cows mounted the other in a pen just as she was viewing them.
She was with the King as they were being officially presented with the herd of seven milking heifers as a gift.
Camilla was leaning over to stroke one of the iconic cream-coloured animals when another one mounted it.
The exhibition was part of a welcome ceremony for Their Majesties, who are carrying out a two-day visit to the Channel Islands for the first time since 2012.
However, Camilla’s cheeky sense of humour got the better of her as she was shown Jersey’s finest cattle – and she erupted in laughter along with the crowd as the cows put on a frisky display for her.
Meanwhile, King Charles looked a little more startled by the cows’ antics – but he could also be seen cracking a smile.
Queen Camilla was pictured in fits of laughter this afternoon in St Helier, Jersey, where she’s undertaking a 2-day visit with King Charles, after two cows got frisky in front of her
The Queen carried a lobster at the expo in St Helier, which took place after she and King Charles had been officially welcomed to Jersey in a ceremony in the Royal Square
During the visit, the King didn’t quite manage to avoid the rain as he was pictured in his water-soaked suit
The herd was originally selected as a Platinum Jubilee gift for Queen Elizabeth in 2022 by the Jersey Milk Marketing Board and the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society.
After her death and the king’s accession arrangements were made to ship the heifers to Windsor when one of the leading herds on the island suffered the tragic loss of a large proportion of their milking herd.
It meant a devastating loss of milk supply as the island does not allow live animals to be imported which means herds can only be replaced by existing breeding animals.
When King Charles heard about the incident and efforts by the island’s milk cooperative to replace the herd, he gifted back the heifers to assist with the restocking programme.
Now that the islands herds are back to their full glory, a new herd is being given back to The King.
Elsewhere in the visit King Charles shared a joke with a veteran Ernest Thorne, the last D-Day veteran from Jersey
Windswept royals! King Charles and Queen Camilla braved the elements as the wind picked up
Camilla appeared to anticipate the rain and had her umbrella at the ready
Some ever-so-slightly damp Scouts appeared less prepared than the King and Queen
Despite getting wet, Charles seemed not to be fussed by the rain; in fact, he beamed as he looked up at the sky
Charles eventually managed to find an umbrella and shielded himself from the wet weather
The King and Queen carried their umbrellas – with Camilla holding her cover over her face
King Charles looked a little windswept as he battled the elements upon arrival at the King’s Parade
Whereas the King and Queen were swiftly handed umbrellas, the Scouts who had gathered to meet the royals were uncharacteristically unprepared
As the Jersey Herd at Windsor is now complete they will be taken to Home Farm, part of his Highgrove Estate, which is run by tenant farmer Henry James Gay who has another herd of organic Ayrshires.
The king looked delighted to meet Isis, Jordanne, Duchess, Oakley, Jemini, Blandish and Christell – although it is not clear which one became rather over-excited in front of the royal visitors.
Following their funny engagements, King Charles met Jersey’s oldest Normandy veteran like an old friend saying ‘you’re getting better with age’.
Charles and Camila sat with Ernest Thorne, 100, at a tea party gathering to celebrate the royals’ visit to Jersey.
The monarch told the war hero ‘it’s a joy to see you’ as the pair reunited after first meeting in Portsmouth at the D-Day commemorations earlier this year.
Charles said: ‘It’s a pleasure, you are remarkable.
‘We have been welcomed incredibly and with such spirit, truly.’
Sitting next to Ernest, the Queen said: ‘I hope you have enjoyed the day, we found it marvellous.’
Ernest Thorne is thought to be the last Jersey man to have been involved in the Normandy landings in 1944.
The former driver in the Mechanical Engineers was in 2018 also presented with France’s highest order of merit – the cross of the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur – in recognition of his contribution during World War Two.
Queen Camilla and King Charles arrived at the Royal Square in St Helier this afteroon, with the Queen donning a trench coat over her turquoise belted dress
After meeting the royals, Mr Thorne said: ‘It was a great pleasure, to not only meet the king and queen but to be invited among great company.
‘We are very proud of our heritage and you can see that by all the people who came out today.’
Charles and Camilla spent around 30 minutes moving between tables chatting animatedly to guests including representatives from the several local charities based on the island.
The Queen spoke to Susie Richardson, the local prison governor, about schemes within the prison and probation service that are for the first time working with local domestic abuse charities.
Ms Richardson said: ‘The Queen was especially interested in how we are joining up local resources to focus on the causes of domestic violence rather than the reactive effect.
‘We are having some really positive results around education which the Queen said was hugely welcome.’
Terry Morel, the chair of the charity Freeda (Free From Domestic Abuse), said: ‘To have the opportunity to discuss our work with the Queen was a huge honour.
‘She is a fantastic ambassador for the type of work we do and she will continue to be a shining example of how we can break the stigma and taboos around the subject.’
At the end of the tea party, the royals passed through a guard of honour out to Liberation Square in front of hundreds of cheering locals who braved the mixed weather throughout the day.
Earlier in the afternoon, the King and Queen engaged in another comical moment when Camilla took part in a very swift wardrobe change.
The Queen donned a turquoise belted dress upon arrival in the Channel Island – but added a waterproof trench coat and umbrella to her ensemble to take the rain into account.
However, as the couple arrived via red carpet onto a stage in the Royal Square in St Helier, where an official welcoming ceremony was carried out before a sitting of the Royal Court and the State Assembly, Camilla realised she still had her waterproof layer on.
In a comical clip as she stood with King Charles to be officially greeted by delegates, the Queen, in one swift move, jerked back her shoulders to shake off the coat.
As the coat fell behind her in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, the Queen continued to stand to attention as if nothing has happened – and regained composure in an instant.
However, her quick change was spotted by King Charles, 75, who couldn’t help but smile as he watched her lose the coat.
As the ceremony got underway, the King was presented with a handful of locally-laid ducks eggs as part of welcome ceremony on Jersey today.
His late mother, Queen Elizabeth, was given two dead mallards when she visited in 2001 but it is understood that His Majesty asked for eggs instead.
King Charles said he was ‘delighted’ to return to Jersey, a ‘beautiful and unique’ island that had held such ‘high regard and affection’ for his late mother.
Beneath the trench coat, Queen Camilla, who celebrates her 77th birthday on Wednesday, donned the crisp blue dress
As the heavens opened, they were greeted with huge cheers as they got out of the state Bentley and immediately sheltered under umbrellas.
The King and the Queen, who wore a blue silk shirt dress by Anna Valentine, were led into the square by a Royal Mace, gifted to the island by Charles II in 1663 in recognition of the island’s loyalty to the Crown.
They walked down a red carpet lined with some 200 locals from the legal profession, Jurats, who act as judges, elected politicians and assorted guests.
The guests stood to sing the national anthem as the King and Queen took their places on a dais.
The Bailiff, president of the States Assembly, read out a Loyal Address welcoming the couple before Charles delivered his response.
‘Mr Bailiff, I am most grateful to you and to the States for the warm welcome you have extended to both my wife and myself, and for the assurances of devotion, loyalty and allegiance to the Crown you have expressed on behalf of the people of Jersey,’ he said.
‘My wife and I have such happy recollections of the welcome we received when we were last here in 2012, to mark the Diamond Jubilee of my late mother.
‘During that visit we met so many Islanders and learned of the high regard and affection in which she was held, and also a great deal about your beautiful and unique island. We look forward to doing so again today during our time here in St Helier.’
As the ceremony got underway in the Royal Square, the King was gifted duck eggs in a gesture once offered to the Queen Mother
Queen Camilla’s blue dress was bright and summery amid the grey skies and rainy showers
When the sitting transitioned to a Royal Court, the King was gifted locally laid duck eggs as a symbol of sustenance, replacing an 800-year tradition of presenting the monarch with two dead ducks.
The ritual formed part of a homage paid by five senior seigneurs, or lords of the manor, each of whom stepped up and clasped hands with the monarch, one by one.
When Elizabeth II visited Jersey in 2001, she was presented with two mallards on a silver tray as part of an ancient tradition dating back to the Middle Ages when six seigneurs, or lords of the manor, would pay homage to the sovereign as the Duke of Normandy.
Just as the late Queen did not take the dead ducks home, the King will not be packing the duck eggs in his suitcase.
Instead, he was shown the bowl of white mallard eggs by seigneur Pamela Bell, before they were accepted on his behalf by the Receiver General, the King’s representative on the islands.
The heavens opened as the King and Queen arrived in Jersey this afternoon for their two-day visit to the Channel Islands
Umbrella up! The King, 74, looked cool in his suit and tie as he arrived while carrying an umbrella
Despite the rain, King Charles couldn’t help but smile as he sported another jazzy tie – this time featuring a zebra print
As they continued to be shown around an exhibition following their visit, there was a brief security scare which saw the royal couple whisked away to a nearby hotel for a short time.
Thankfully, the scare was a false alarm and the King and Queen were able to return to their programme of engagements, including a public walkabout.
Buckingham Palace did not comment officially but it is understood there was a ‘small issue of concern’.
An investigation was initiated but it turned out to be a false alarm.
Eamon Fenlon, managing director of Jersey Dairy, had just served the Queen an ice cream from a van before she was ushered out of the Expo.
Mr Fenlon said: ‘I had just given the Queen an ice cream and I turned back to get one myself before we had a chat. But when I turned back round she had been whisked off.’
The couple understood several impromptu walkabouts with the road lined with cheering and flag-waving crowds.
Sophie Paul, 16, was shaking with excitement after she was able to give Camilla a posy of flowers handpicked from her garden that morning.
‘She said they were lovely and thanked me. I can’t believe it. She was just lovely,’ she said Cries of ‘welcome, welcome’ rang out from the crowds.
Another well-wisher added: ‘it’s the best thing ever. We are so excited.’
Inside the Expo Camilla tried locally-grown honey – which she declared ‘absolutely delicious’.
The king enquired about what flowers the bees liked. ‘We have everything, there’s no mon-culture here,’ he was told .
‘That’s absolutely the best way!’ He declared excitedly.
Camilla was entranced by the Jersey cows as she stroked them: ‘Aren’t they beautiful and so soft.’
On the last engagement of the day the couple watched a parade from an awning when the heavens opened.
The rain was so heavy that even under their shelter the couple were getting soaked. The Queen was forced to put on raincoat and put up an umbrella, while an official tried to shield the King with his cloak. Charles laughingly told him Not to bother and stood with his suit getting soaked, smiling and waving to the troops and drenched children on parade.
As he returns to the Channel Islands for the first time since 2012, the King, who is known as the Duke of Normandy in the islands, will highlight the relationship between the Islands and the Crown, which stretches back centuries.
It comes as Charles returns to some public duties, despite his continued treatment for cancer.
He attended the busy D-Day commemorations in Normandy, France, at the beginning of June, followed by Trooping the Colour, the Garter Day ceremony and the Royal Ascot.
The trip will end the day before the planned State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday, which is also Camilla’s 77th birthday.
She is said to have urged him to take it easy, but told author Lee Child he ‘won’t slow down and won’t do what he’s told’.
Later this week, as the King and Queen visit Guernsey, Their Majesties will attend a special sitting of the States of Deliberation and ancient ceremony of homage to the monarch, held outdoors on the St Peter Port seafront where islanders can watch the events.
At official functions, islanders raise the loyal toast to ‘The Duke of Normandy, our King’.
Charles and Camilla will also head to the Crown Pier to learn about the island’s heritage and traditions, biodiversity initiatives, local food, and the work to promote the language of Guernesiais – also known as Guernsey French.
Both Jersey and Guernsey have announced special public holidays to mark the royal visits on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
When the visit was announced in June, Bailiff of Guernsey Sir Richard McMahon said: ‘It will be a great privilege to welcome Their Majesties to the Bailiwick for the first time as King and Queen, the year after their coronation.
‘Their visit this summer shows just how special the relationship between the Crown and the Islands is.’
Deputy Lyndon Trott, Chief Cinister of Guernsey, said: ‘As is well known, His Majesty also has a special interest in global efforts to combat climate change.
‘We are looking forward to showcasing our initiatives to support those efforts and promote sustainability across a range of sectors.
‘That includes the pioneering green finance initiatives of our main economic sector, which have a global impact.’
Both islands are forecast to see temperatures between 15C and 19C across both days, though the couple’s visit to Jersey may get off to a wet start as the Met Office forecasts rain in the morning before a drier afternoon.
Time constraints mean the couple will not be able to travel to the islands of Alderney and Sark, which are part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
The Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey, Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd, had previously said Charles and Camilla were ‘looking forward greatly’ to the trip.
‘The binding benefits of this special relationship remain as strong as ever and I know Their Majesties are looking forward greatly to their visit next month,’ Vice Admiral Kyd said in June.
The Crown Dependencies are not part of the UK but are self-governing possessions of the British Crown.
When the late Queen Elizabeth II visited Jersey in 2001, she was presented with two dead ducks on a silver tray – part of an ancient tradition dating back to the Middle Ages when six seigneurs – lords of the manor – would pay homage to the sovereign as the Duke of Normandy with the mallards.