King Charles and Queen Camilla have become comfortable with the unknown, entering into royal engagements with the knowledge that they will be meeting new people and taking part in unpredictable activities at every stop.
While they have proven their unwavering adaptability, a handful of unearthed photos show the one engagement where they were truly caught off guard.
During a visit to the Sandringham Flower Show in 2015, the then-Prince Charles and his wife, the then-Duchess of Cornwall, came face to face with a Bald Eagle called Zephyr, who was the mascot of the Army Air Corps, a regiment of which Charles served as Colonel-in-Chief for over three decades.
As it flapped its wings in close proximity to the royals, their startled expressions were captured on camera, with both leaning away and closing their eyes for protection during the visit to the late Queen Elizabeth's Norfolk estate, Sandringham.
Joking about his previous interactions with the bird, the BBC reported that Charles said: "That's why I'm not holding him. I've learnt from experience. I'm keeping well back."
© GettyHowever, after several media outlets suggested that the pair were "almost attacked" by Zephyr, which simply stretched its wings, Clarence House reportedly told The Telegraph: "I think the pictures are more dramatic than it actually was."
King Charles' love of animals
Contrary to these unfortunate photos, King Charles is a confessed lover of birds. While guest editing Country Life for his 70th birthday in November 2018, he revealed: "I have always held a particular fascination for swifts... and curlews, whose haunting call must be one of the most evocative in nature. I always long for the first sound of them in early spring."
© Getty ImagesHe has also opened up about his passion for native red squirrels, which he famously welcomes inside his Scottish retreat. Prince William discussed his father's affection for the endangered animals in the BBC documentary Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70.
"He is completely infatuated by the red squirrels that live around the estate in Scotland – to the extent that he's given them names and is letting them come into the house," he said.
The monarch confirmed this was the case, telling Country Life: "They come into the house at Birkhall and we get them to chase each other round and round inside. If I sit quietly, they will do so around me... Sometimes, when I leave my jacket on a chair with nuts in the pockets, I see them with their tails sticking out, hunting for treats."
