King Charles, Queen Camilla step out for special event as royal couple perform key role
Queen Camilla got visibly emotional after King Charles honoured his wife’s family in a heartfelt gesture.
Charles and Camilla on Tuesday stepped out to attend the reception and awards ceremony for the charity Elephant Family, which was set up by the Queen’s late brother Mark Shand.
Mark, who had founded the charity in 2002 under the patronage of the Rajmata of Jaipur and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, tragically died aged just 62 after falling and suffering a head injury in 2014.
Now, as the royal couple, who are joint presidents, are making sure that Mark’s noble work is continues.
During the ceremony held The Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, West London, a posthumous video of Camilla’s brother was played in which he spoke about his “optimism” for saving endangered elephants.
The video had moved Camilla to tears, who was also joined by her sister, Annabel Elliot, for the event, reported royal editor Rebecca English.
The King and Queen then took to the stage together to present two awards. Camilla presented the Mark Shand Award to Dr Bibhuti Prasad Lahkar from the Indian-based organisation Aaranyak which works closely with Elephant Family.
Meanwhile, Charles presented Rebecca Campbell with the Tara Award, named after the elephant on which Shand travelled around India.
After that, Charles – who was wearing a tie with an elephant motif – stayed on stage and made an off-the-cuff speech as he took the “opportunity to pay a special tribute”.
