The Duchess of Cornwall shows her delight at her birthday cake, with Anne Longford, chairman of IW WI federation. Picture by Robin Crossley.
VIDEO
LITTLE Ella Smith and the Duchess of Cornwall have one thing in common — they share the same birthday.
Ella, celebrating her seventh birthday, had a smile that stretched from ear to ear as she helped the Duchess cut a birthday cake just as the heavens opened above St Thomas’s Square, Newport, and the brollies went up.
As photographers jostled to get the best picture, the Isle of Wight Music Centre Youth Stage Band, led by Martyn Stroud, struck up the traditional Happy Birthday, with scores of well-wishers in the crowd joining in.
Ella, a pupil at Carisbrooke Primary School, presented Camilla, who was wearing a raw silk, oatmeal jacket and skirt by Anna Valentine, her favourite designer, with a hand-made birthday card, which she had made that morning, and a hand-tied posy.
The cake — a ten-inch sponge, layered with butter cream and jam, with lemon trellis and pale lemon roses, featuring the WI logo in the middle — was baked by Christine Tipple, a member of Creekside WI.
Prince Charles and Camilla visited the Isle of Wight Farmers’ Market, speaking to stallholders and tasting their products.
The Prince, a patron of Specialist Cheese Makers’ Association, had a long conversation with Richard Hodgson, of the award-winning Isle of Wight Cheese Company, when he revealed the creamy Isle of Wight Blue to be his favourite.
The Royal couple, who took the time to meet people in the crowd despite the heavy rain, were shown around the Minster Church of Sts Thomas by Canon Stephen Palmer, and heard about its restoration.
• More pictures coming soon.
Reporter: martinn@iwcpmail.co.uk
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall
visit St Thomas's Square, Newport.
The video file is quite large so may take a few moments to load.
Problems seeing this video? You may need to install Adobe's free Flash player