Camilla admires ‘lovely' Easter egg in first outing since Charles's hospitalisation
Queen Camilla has admired a giant decorated egg installed outside Buckingham Palace as part of a city-wide Easter egg hunt for charity.
The Queen described the ornate blue and gold creation, titled " Green Man Humpty Dumpty", as "wonderful".
The egg is one of 123 placed across London as part of the charitable initiative.
Designer Alice Shirley, who created the egg, said that King Charles has long been an admirer of her work and even received a leopard painting from her as a 70th birthday gift.
Ms Shirley presented the Humpty Dumpty egg to the Queen in front of the King's Gallery on Tuesday afternoon, flanked by two Coldstream Guards in full regalia, a symbolic nod to the "King's men" from the nursery rhyme.
It was Camilla's first outing since King Charles's hospitalisation last week for side effects of cancer treatment. He has since returned to public duties.
The egg's design reimagines Humpty Dumpty as a Green Man, a traditional symbol of nature's power of renewal.
This artistic choice, Ms Shirley explained, transforms the classic line "all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again" into a powerful message about shared responsibility for environmental restoration.
Camilla and the King commissioned her design for conservation charity Elephant Family's The Big Egg Hunt, where people can win prizes by finding the two-foot pieces across London.
Its design was inspired by the monarchs' love of nature and conservation.
The Queen said to Ms Shirley 'it's looking wonderful already. It's very lovely', and added 'well thank you very much'.
After Camilla departed, the artist said: 'It's the sort of commission you can't say no to, and I said yes, of course, I'd be delighted.'
Camilla had told Ms Shirley the King would be 'excited'.
Asked about the conversation, Ms Shirley said to reporters: 'Yes, he's been a fan of my work for quite a long time and I studied at the Royal Drawing School back in 2009.
'He has some of my pieces in his collection.
'He's got a leopard that he was given for his 70th birthday, he's got some of my drawings, because each year the King gets to choose some drawings by each of the alumni who leave the school, so he gets the pick of the favourites.'
He also has a gorilla ink drawing, she added.
'He's been a huge support', she said, adding that she had an exhibition in Buckingham Palace with the arts school.
Ms Shirley's egg has a blue face with green and golden eyes and a gold beard.
Blue and gold hands stretch around either side and there are leaves and stars painted across the shell.
The panel beneath reads: 'All the King's horses, and all the King's men, couldn't put the Green Man together again'.
At 7am, ahead of Camilla's visit, the artist was outside The King's Gallery carrying out repairs with gold leaf.
The egg had been chipped and broken after it was placed outside the palace on March 27.
Ms Shirley said: 'You can put 'do not touch' on something and everyone was touching it.'
Camilla's late brother, Mark Shand, founded the Elephant Family which supports wildlife and surrounding communities in Asia, by working in partnership with conservation experts on the ground.
On Tuesday afternoon, more than 14,000 people had downloaded The Big Egg Hunt app and £16,430 had been raised.
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