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Mary commented on the meeting, “I have been writing to her for well
over fifteen years. She is one of my favourite Royals. I tell her
about my Grandchildren and I ask about hers. She’s thrilled to bits
to be a grandmother.”
There was also an international feel to the people that the Duchess
was meeting today: Sharon Paroli emigrated to Nottinghamshire from
Australia and she is still in correspondence with the Royal.
She said, “I just really liked her so I wrote to her. I wrote
thinking I would never get a reply but she kept replying with
handwritten notes. We talk about our grandchildren and she asked
about my move from Australia.”
This year saw the Sandringham Flower Show celebrate its 133rd
anniversary and what with its marching bands, fairground and over
200 trade stands, it looked set to be a spectacular show. What’s
more is that profits from the show are donated to local charities
and since 1977 the show has raised more than £500,000 for
charitable causes.
It wasn’t just the Royal couple who were visiting the Flower Show
today, as arriving in the horse drawn carriage with Charles and
Camilla were actresses Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith,
who recently became a Member of the Order of the Companions of
Honour. The two ladies also accompanied the Royal couple to a
concert at St Mary’s Church in Old Hunstanton, to support charity
Music in Country Churches of which Prince Charles is
Patron.
So it appears that it was a great day all around, for penpals and
others alike. Phil Smith recalled, “I wrote to her when she got
married and she wrote back. She sent me a 50th birthday card too.”
It wasn’t just the penpals who got to speak with Camilla either:
Holly Ford of Ingoldisthorpe Primary School spent weeks practising
her curtsey and got the chance to use it for Camilla today, Holly
commented, ” She said I had a lovely dress on.”
The Duchess of Cornwall even found time, along with Prince Charles,
to pop in to the Sandringham Women’s Institute marquee where she
bought a knitted toy, which was reportedly for Prince George.
So as the Sandringham Flower Show draws to a close it surely must
be fantastic for the penpals of Camilla to know that when they
write to her , they are sure to get a reply. Maybe we should all
give it a go, you never know, you might be lucky enough to receive
a handwritten reply from the Duchess too.
Photo Credit:(c) Chloe Howard
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