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Prince Charles and Camilla share loving picture as a thank you for anniversary well wishes

The couple's special day fell on the same day of Prince Philip's sad passing

charles and camilla anniversary
Andrea Caamano
Website Editor
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Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall's 16th wedding anniversary was tinged with sadness this year, as Prince Philip passed away on the same morning.

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Despite the incredibly sad time for the royal family, many fans sent in their well-wishes on the special occasion and Camilla has now thanked all those that wrote in by sending a beautiful thank you card featuring a loving picture of her and her husband.

The couple have chosen a snap of them taken back in October following the arrival of four life-size sculptures of elephants at the Prince of Wales’s Highgrove country estate.

WATCH: Prince Charles and Camilla's home Highgrove House is like a dream

On the back of the picture, Camilla's handwriting can be appreciated as she wrote part of the message herself, including the signature which reads: "With best wishes, Camilla."

READ: Why Prince Charles and Camilla's wedding anniversary will be forever bittersweet

SEE: Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla's huge country mansion is magical

The statues featured in the picture are particularly poignant for the Duchess as they are part of an initiative from the Elephant Family, the charity Camilla's brother Mark Shand co-founded in 2002, and back in October she revealed she believed her brother – who died in 2014 – would be "so proud".

"I think they're so beautiful and my brother, who founded the charity, I think if he saw all these elephants now scattering across the south-west of England, he’d be so proud," said the Duchess at the time.

prince charles camilla elephants

The photo chosen by the couple was taken last October

"When sadly he died, having raised a lot of money for the charity and my husband and I took it on, I don't think he would have believed how well it could have [gone]."

The elephants were destined to join a herd of 125 sculptures that had been due to 'migrate' through the Royal Parks and Berkeley Square in London over the summer in the charity's environmental art exhibition, CoExistence.

But when plans were put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, the artworks found themselves locked down in a barn on the Cotswolds farm of Elephant Family's Principle Trustee Ruth Ganesh.

Keen to find a way to support the cause, the Duchess came up with the idea of an elephant adoption agency, placing the sculptures with some of her elephant-loving friends for the winter.

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