It was a special day for Prince Charles as he led the commissioning of his namesake Navy ship, HMS Prince of Wales. It was also a great day for Camilla as she was able to chat with a friend on board the ship.
Prince Charles and Camilla attended a ceremony for the commissioning of the Royal Navy's new £3.1million (nearly $ 4.1 million) aircraft carrier. HMS Prince of Wales is Britain's second Queen Elizabeth's carrier. Camilla act as the ship's Lady Sponsor at the carrier's commissioning.
In her speech, Camilla expressed how she was awed by the scale and size of HRS Prince of Wales. The 919-feet long carrier is as tall as Big Ben from the bottom of the ship to the tip of its mast.
"Just to give you a comparison, Clarence House would fit nearly 25 times onto the flight deck," she told the crowd of 3,000 guests.
To celebrate commissioning, the Royal Navy also gave Prince Charles the new title of Commodore-in-Chief, Aircraft Carriers. The royal couple was also presented with an adorable cake with figures of them on top.
Charles' figurine stood next to a sailor. Another sailor held a placard saying, "This time it's HMS..." while Camilla's figurine held a sign that says "him," pointing to Charles' miniature statue.
The joke in the cake set up followed Queen Elizabeth II being shown in cheeky cake character when she officially welcomed HMS Queen Elizabeth in December 2017. At the time, a sailor figurine held an "HMS" sign while the Queen's figurine has the "Me" sign.
The ceremony ended with raising of the White Ensign on the stern of the carrier to mark it as part of the Royal Navy's operational fleet. Britain can put the new member of the fleet into action for high-intensity warfighting, humanitarian aid or disaster relief.
Meanwhile, Camilla also met with well-known survival expert Bear Grylls during the commissioning ceremony. Grylls holds honorary ranks in the Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Marine. A video of Camilla and Bear chatting was posted by Clarence House on its official Instagram account.
Camilla considered the former SAS serviceman as a family friend. Her brother, Mark Shand, went to the same school as Sir Michael Grylls, Bear's father. Shand and Bear's dad attended Saint Ronan's School in Hawkhurst, Kent.
The survival expert has met members of the royal family on several occasions. During the Kings Cup regatta earlier this year, Bear also beat Prince William and Kate Middleton. He is also known as a staunch supporter of Prince Charles' charity, The Prince's Trust.
