Prince Charles took the place of the late Queen Mother on Wednesday, visiting the annual Sandringham Flower Show in Norfolk as his beloved grandmother had done every year for the last five decades. He arrived at the Royal Sandringham Estate near King’s Lynn with his companion Camilla Parker Bowles and her father, Major Bruce Shand.
The band of the Dragoon Guards played Consider Yourself from the musical Oliver as Camilla and the Prince toured the marquees at one of the UK's most famous horticultural events. As royals never carry money on their person, when Charles wanted to buy some raffle tickets at one tent, his bodyguard reached into his pockets to pay for them. Similarly, in the Beekeepers’ tent, when Camilla went to buy two packets of fudge, her assistant did likewise, handing the pound coins to the salesperson.
“It is different without the Queen Mother,” 58-year-old Veronica Bailey, a longtime attendee, told the BBC. “I have missed her. I was surprised to see Camilla here. I didn’t think that she would be here today… But I was pleased to see her.”
The Sandringham flower show was one of several of the Queen Mother’s duties, that the Prince vowed he would continue in her memory. At the Chelsea flower show earlier this year, Charles dedicated a homeopathic “healing garden” to the memory of the his grandmother, who died on March 29, 2002 aged 101.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
