Queen Camilla makes first appearance since King Charles' hospital treatment
The Queen cracked on with her duties today, inspecting a giant "Green Man Humpty Dumpty Egg" outside Buckingham Palace.
Taking part in her first public engagement since the King was hospitalised briefly for the side effects of his cancer treatment last week, Camilla was all smiles as she admired the 2ft sculpture.
"This is very exciting, a real Humpty Dumpty," she said.
Installed outside the King's Gallery, the piece is one of 123 that make up "The Big Egg Hunt" campaign by Elephant Family, the conservation charity founded by Her Majesty's late brother Mark Shand.
Commissioned by the King and Queen, the egg's leafy design was created by artist Alice Shirley and inspired by their love of nature and conservation.
"It's absolutely beautiful, I loved the idea," Camilla told the London-based designer, who collaborates with the French fashion house Hermes and is an alumna of The Royal Drawing School and Byam Shaw School, Central St Martins.
Alice explained that her design, painted in acrylics onto a shell made from recycled plastic, was based on a combination of the Green Man of traditional folklore, whose image also appeared on invitations to the Coronation, and the traditional nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty, used here to symbolise the broken state of the natural world.
Two Coldstream Guardsmen, in full uniform, posed alongside the egg to reflect the Humpty Dumpty rhyme "All the King’s Horses and all the King's Men" which is adapted with the line "couldn’t put the Green Man together again" on the egg's plinth.
The Queen told the artist the King would be "very excited" by her work. Speaking afterwards, Alice said the monarch had been a "huge supporter" of her work since she studied at the Royal Drawing School in 2009 and owns several of her works, including an ink drawing of a gorilla and a painting of a leopard, which he received for his 70th birthday.
She said of the egg, which took her a month to paint: "lt's the kind of commission you can't say no to."
She had continued to work on it until earlier today, repairing some slight chips to the shell with gold leaf.
Their Majesties are joint patrons of Elephant Family, which works with conservation experts on the ground to tackle the challenges facing Asian wildlife and the communities living alongside them. The egg sculptures will be auctioned off to raise funds for their work.
Other artists and brands who have decorated eggs include Anya Hindmarch, Philip Colbert, Duncan Campbell and Charlotte Rey, LUAP, Fortnum & Mason and Chopard.
Members of the public can "collect" the eggs via The Big Egg Hunt app as they follow the trail, which spans places including Chelsea, Canary Wharf, Covent Garden and Marble Arch and landmarks including Battersea Power Station, the Barbican, the British Museum and the Royal Albert Hall.
