The royal couple last flew to Jordan and Egypt for a business trip. Despite their advanced age, Camilla and her husband still see themselves as “full of juice”.
London – Despite her advanced age, Duchess Camilla (74) finds herself and her husband Prince Charles (73) not too old for long-distance travel.
“It was pretty tough, we were out and about a lot, and it was pretty bumpy,” said the Queen’s daughter-in-law on the return flight of the couple’s trip to Jordan and Egypt. “But afterwards I think: Ok, I’m much older than 16 years ago, but (…) we’re still full of juice.”
Camilla and Charles last visited Egypt in the mid-2000s. Since her marriage to the heir to the throne in 2005, Camilla has visited Colombia, Mexico, the Galapagos Islands, India, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, among others.
Camilla: Not on vacation
Camilla emphasized that it was business trips. “We may be dressed and photographed like tourists in front of the pyramids, but we’re not on vacation,” she said. “We work for the (UK) government and try to make a difference.”
The trips were worth it, said the Duchess, as reported by British media on Saturday. Numerous diplomats had assured her that the visits of the royal couple would have an important effect. “We tried weeks, months, years to open these doors, and when a member of the Royal Family came by, it suddenly worked,” Camilla quoted the experience.
In the Middle East, she was particularly impressed by the visit to the Jordan River. That was a “spiritual” moment, “said the Duchess. At the place where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the couple received several bottles of consecrated water.
British media speculate that the water could be used for the baptism of Charles’ granddaughter Lilibet. The daughter of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan, who was born in the USA on June 4, has never met her grandfather or great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. According to the reports, Harry and Meghan are still at odds over whether Lilibet should be baptized in the UK or the US. dpa
