Queen Camilla made vice-admiral of navy on birthday visit

Times

2 days ago

What do you get the woman who has it all? A new title and a personalised clingfilm dispenser. At least, that's what the Queen received when she visited Plymouth on the eve of her 78th birthday.
A new picture has been released to mark the occasion, showing her at ease in the garden of Ray Mill, her private Wiltshire home.
The Queen has been made vice-admiral of the Royal Navy, the first woman to hold the position in the UK, reflecting the 'high regard' she commands among sailors.
She also received an engraved clingfilm holder as part of an 'inside joke' from the HMS Astute crew, which she appeared to be thrilled with, for her 78th birthday on Thursday.
The joke relates to an incident that occurred on the nuclear-powered submarine.
As lady sponsor of HMS Astute, the Queen had been made aware that the submarine's crew had once used the transparent plastic film to fix a problem with the engines on board.
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She was said to have found the solution 'quite amusing' and upon seeing her specially engraved gift, exclaimed: 'Oh my goodness the famous clingfilm! Oh brilliant, it's a useful substance … I'm sure it works. How lovely, thank you very much.'
Commander Christopher Bate, captain of HMS Astute, explained after her departure that the substance had saved the day for the submarine. 'We had a defect on board and we were losing vacuum in the main engines,' he said.
'The engineers on board said we could either come back to port to fix it or use something on board. So they used clingfilm from the galley.'
He added: '[They] wrapped it in the engines and stopped air getting into it and reducing the vacuum, and therefore re-sorted propulsion at sea. And it's been on there for the last two and a half years, because it's such a big job to change the seals … Her Majesty found it quite amusing when she found out.'
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The gift came with a gold plaque that read: 'Clingfilm, keeping nuclear submarines at sea,' and 'First in class, second to none'. Bate said Camilla was 'very pleased'.
During a downpour at the garden party to mark the end of the submarine's first commission, she said: 'Within this ship's company, those extraordinary endeavours range from the innovation of one petty officer … through to the resourceful solution to maintain a vacuum, in the middle of the Indian ocean, with clingfilm!
'I can only imagine what the unofficial toolkit in a submarine might look like.'
However her gift may have to stay at Raymill, rather than at Clarence House — the London residence she shares with the King — as he is said not to like clingfilm.
Tom Bower, the biographer, claimed the first time the King saw clingfilm he 'shrieked' and asked what it was. 'It's clingfilm, darling,' she replied, according to reports.
The Queen spent the day in Plymouth touring HMS Astute and meeting submariners. She named the vessel in 2007, when she was Duchess of Cornwall, and said she was looking forward to its return after an upcoming four-year refit.
But with 'global tectonics shifting unpredictably', she warned the submarine may return to an 'unfamiliar world'.
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HMS Astute conducts a range of missions including homeland protection and intelligence gathering. It will now enter a mid-life revalidation programme, including a refit which will finally see the emergency clingfilm removed.
Discussing the Queen's involvement as lady sponsor, and now vice admiral, Bate said Camilla had been 'a really good supporter since day one'.
'For the last 15 years, she writes to the boat regularly,' he added, even sending tea and biscuits out to the crew when they had freezer failures. 'We lost a member of the ship's company two and a half years ago, which was quite difficult.
'She was very supportive, writing to the submarine [crew] and to his parents.'