Prince Charles unexpectedly joined his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, during the unveiling of a project her younger brother, Mark Shand, dreamed of before he died. The Prince of Wales showed up at the interview at their farm in Highgrove in Gloucestershire.
According to Daily Mail, Prince Charles was not scheduled to be part of the interview but he surprised Camilla because he knew how much this unveiling meant to his wife. The heir to the British throne wore an old, comfortable and threadbare embroidered coat from Pakistan, which royal aides said the heir does not actually show in public.
Prince Charles and Camilla proceeded to talk about the five large artistic elephant sculptures standing at their Highgrove garden. The set is part of 125 life-size sculptures transported from South India early this year.
Camilla was supposed to exhibit these sculptures at London's Royal Parks last summer but COVID-19 canceled the event. Since the cancellation, the Duchess of Cornwall has been making calls to friends and family with large gardens to "adopt" a few of the elephant sculptures temporarily.
Many of the pieces remain locked for months in a warehouse in England. The Duchess of Cornwall, however, wants them out on display until she could mount the event again.
The sculptures are the result of a long environmental art campaign, which Camilla's brother steered and planned before he died six years ago. Shand had been working with CoExistence and his Elephant Family charity for a decade to help raise awareness for the plight of endangered Asian elephants in the region.
The pieces were created by local Indian artisans who were hoping to raise money for the charity. They used a type of invasive weed, which causes significant damages to the elephants' habitats, to form the sculptures.
Camilla told ITV News that his brother would likely be happy to see the sculptures making it to England. She expressed with certainty that her brother is praying that the elephants will achieve the goals of the Elephant Family.
The Duchess' brother died while working at an elephant fundraiser in New York in 2014. He slipped on a pavement while out in Manhattan. Doctors could not do anything else but put him on life support until he succumbed to his head injuries 12 hours after his freak accident.
Camilla was very close to her brother and, like Prince Charles, he also staunchly supported conservation efforts of the Earth's natural resources. Shand was able to give the Prince of Wales a tour of the forest he created in India.
