King Charles was escorted away during a public engagement due to a security concern. Photo / Getty Images
King Charles was escorted away during a public engagement due to a security concern. Photo / Getty Images
The King and Queen were rushed out of an engagement involving cows and potato farmers on Jersey following a security concern.
The visit to the outdoor expo event, in St Helier, was suddenly cut short and the couple were ushered into a nearby hotel, during their two-day visit to the Channel Islands.
The King was chatting to the owner of Jersey Sea Salt and the Queen was buying a tub of Jersey Dairy ice cream when they were each told by their personal protection officers that they had to leave.
The perceived threat was dealt with calmly and members of the public were unaware of any drama, as the couple left the site and were taken to the nearby Pomme d’Or hotel.
It is understood that there was a “small issue of concern” and that every precaution was taken.
But following an investigation it turned out to be a false alarm.
☔️ An extraordinary (wet!) showcase at The King’s Parade in Liberation Square!
Their Majesties observed a march past of the Band of the Island of Jersey, Jersey Field Squadron, veterans, emergency services, cadet units, Scouts and Guides.
A full background check was carried out and the programme resumed shortly afterwards, when the King and Queen conducted a jovial walkabout in the sunshine outside the hotel.
Stall holders claimed the threat concerned a drone but the rumour was said to be unfounded.
Matt Taylor, founder of Jersey Sea Salt, was chatting to the King when he was approached by his protection officer and told he had to leave immediately.
He said: “He stopped at the stall and said ‘Ooh sea salt’ and I said ‘Come and have a chat, Sir.’
“Then his security appeared and grabbed me and said ‘He has to go, now’.
“He didn’t seem panicked but he was quite stern. They just ushered him out. It’s a shame as he’d stopped to chat to us of his own accord.”
Eamon Fenlon, managing director of Jersey Dairy, had just served the Queen an ice cream from a van before she was ushered out of the Expo.
Fenlon said: “I had just given the Queen an ice cream and I turned back to get one myself before we had a chat.
“But when I turned back round she had been whisked off. Some of the other people told me it was a drone but whether that’s official or not I don’t know.”
King Charles III and Queen Camilla visit Royal Square for a Special Sitting of the States Assembly and Sitting of the Royal Court. Photo / Getty Images
The expo event had got under way just minutes earlier, with the King and Queen getting the giggles as they were introduced to some Jersey cows.
The couple were gifted seven Jersey heifers that will be transported back to the King’s Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire.
The cows represent an “outstanding cross section of breeding” from the leading herds in the island.
The Queen was entranced by animals, saying as she stroked them: “Aren’t they beautiful and so soft.”
But then one of them mounted the other from behind, causing much laughter.
“They say never work with animals or children,” muttered one aide.
The cows had been due to be sent to Windsor but because the Jersey herd at Windsor is complete, the monarch asked whether the cattle could be given to Home Farm, which forms part of his Highgrove estate and is run by the Duchy of Cornwall.
Henry James Gay, the Duchy’s tenant farmer, recently visited Jersey to choose the heifers that will live alongside his organic herd of Ayrshire cows.
The King and Queen got the giggles as they were introduced to some Jersey cows that proved a little frisky
— Telegraph Royal Family (@TelegraphRoyals) July 15, 2024
Andrew Le Gallais, former chairman of the Jersey Milk Marketing Board, said: “Thanks to the hard work and dedication of all at Woodlands Farm in St Helier, the Le Boutillier herd is now fully restocked.
“We are delighted we’re now able to honour the gift intended for His Majesty, and we look forward to working with Henry and his father Colston to help them build the herd of Jersey cows.”
After the security drama, the King and Queen dropped in on a tea party held in their honour.
The King greeted Jersey’s oldest Normandy veteran like an old friend saying “you’re getting better with age”.
Charles and Camilla sat with Ernest Thorne, 100, as the monarch told the war hero “it’s a joy to see you” following their first meeting in Portsmouth at the D-Day commemorations earlier this year.
Queen Camilla greets well-wishers during a visit to Royal Square for a Special Sitting of the States Assembly and Sitting of the Royal Court. Photo / Getty Images
The visit began on Monday with a special sitting of the States Assembly, the local parliament, in St Helier’s Royal Square.
As the heavens opened, they were greeted with huge cheers as they got out of the state Bentley and immediately sheltered under umbrellas.
The King and the Queen, who wore a blue silk shirt dress by Anna Valentine, were led into the square by a Royal Mace, gifted to the island by Charles II in 1663 in recognition of the island’s loyalty to the Crown.
The visit began on Monday with a special sitting of the States Assembly, the local parliament. Photo / Getty Images
The Bailiff, president of the States Assembly, read out a Loyal Address welcoming the couple before Charles delivered his response.
“Mr Bailiff, I am most grateful to you and to the States for the warm welcome you have extended to both my wife and myself, and for the assurances of devotion, loyalty and allegiance to the Crown you have expressed on behalf of the people of Jersey,” he said.
“My wife and I have such happy recollections of the welcome we received when we were last here in 2012, to mark the Diamond Jubilee of my late mother.
“During that visit we met so many Islanders and learned of the high regard and affection in which she was held, and also a great deal about your beautiful and unique island. We look forward to doing so again today during our time here in St Helier.”
When the sitting transitioned to a Royal Court, the King was gifted locally laid duck eggs as a symbol of sustenance, replacing an 800-year tradition of presenting the monarch with two dead ducks.
The ritual formed part of a homage paid by five senior seigneurs, or lords of the manor, each of whom stepped up and clasped hands with the monarch, one by one.
🇯🇪 Celebrating the best of Jersey!
🦞 In St Helier, Their Majesties have heard about the island’s agriculture, fishing and aquaculture industries on their journey to net zero. pic.twitter.com/gQxVwP0ysb
When Elizabeth II visited Jersey in 2001, she was presented with two mallards on a silver tray as part of an ancient tradition dating back to the Middle Ages when six seigneurs, or lords of the manor, would pay homage to the sovereign as the Duke of Normandy.
Just as the late Queen did not take the dead ducks home, the King will not be packing the duck eggs in his suitcase.
Instead, he was shown the bowl of white mallard eggs by seigneur Pamela Bell, before they were accepted on his behalf by the Receiver General, the King’s representative on the islands.
The Queen watched on with a smile.
The couple were due to stay on Jersey on Monday night – the first King to have stayed on the island since Charles II in the 1600s – before heading to Guernsey on Tuesday.
